


A Dark Ghost

by carstairs312



Series: The Darkest Minds: Indigo [1]
Category: The Darkest Minds (2018), The Darkest Minds Series - Alexandra Bracken
Genre: Cross-Posted on Wattpad, F/M, Original Character(s)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-16
Updated: 2020-06-07
Packaged: 2021-03-01 20:14:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 56
Words: 64,202
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23682979
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/carstairs312/pseuds/carstairs312
Summary: There are only four like her. They call their type "Indigo." With a power depending on whoever she touches, Aria has to decide who she can trust.Set in The Darkest Minds universe.
Relationships: Cole Stewart/Aria Stacey, Cole Stewart/Original Female Character(s), Ruby Daly/Liam Stewart, Vida Bautista/Charles Carrington "Chubs" Meriwether IV
Series: The Darkest Minds: Indigo [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1705381
Kudos: 27





	1. Prologue

I was in Black Rock. Until I wasn't. I was in a Leda Corp facility. Until I wasn't. Everything was constantly changing. It was hard to keep track of who I was.

Only one thing stayed the same.

I was always running.


	2. Part One: Chapter One

The bus that took us to Black Rock was crowded with people, the last weeks going by in a blur. It's funny how little time it takes for a person's entire world to fall to pieces. I was eating dinner at home with my Aunt and Uncle. They sent me to school the next day, and that was when the soldiers arrived. They loaded us all onto a bus. I sat with my best friend Ellie, squeezing her hand tight the whole journey. It was an uncomfortable thing to do, considering both our hands were bound with zip-ties, but it was comforting, all the same, to have her there.

Some people managed to sleep, but I wasn't so lucky. When they hauled us off the bus, I expected a few people would try to run. This time - unlike when we were picked up at school - no one did. The electric gates and guns of the soldiers seemed to take the fight out of most of us. It was easier to just do what they said, even though most of us didn't even know what was happening, myself included. I at least thought it would be alright, but then they moved to split up me and El, and she let them. _She let them take me_. 

They took me to a room with a doctor in. He made me sit under a machine. He told me I was green, I wasn't. It turned out I was blue, and so was Ellie. I knew this because we were put together in the same room, they had separated kids by ages and colour. The kids in our room were all either eleven or twelve, like me. Finally, something I was sure of. Although, neither of us was really sure what being a 'blue' entitled. Is it a good thing? A bad thing? One of the other girls in our room said that we could move things with our minds. That seemed cool, in an end-of-the-world sort of way. The only bad thing about the 'abilities' is that we weren't allowed to practise them - ever - or there would be punishment. No one really fancied getting punished, so, for now, we tried to keep our new powers in check. 

It wasn't that hard. After a while, I learnt about the different colours: green, yellow, orange, and red. We had to stay away from the oranges and he reds. There were a few at the beginning but it wasn't long before they disappeared. No one had heard of them since. Ellie kept saying that this was only temporary, that we wouldn't be here for long and that our families would come and get us. I didn't understand how she could be so naïve. No one was coming for us, and she was only setting herself up to get hurt. That was when we started to drift apart.

That was when things other than our friendship started to fall apart.

~

Not much time had passed since arriving at the camp. Actually, there was no real way of telling how much time had gone by, all the days blurred together into one long _nightmare_. Not much had changed except for things between Ellie and I. The only other large change was that this place was becoming more and more like hell. We were on garden duty, and there was a group of yellows there too. One of the girls couldn't keep up with the others, and she was swaying on her feet. It wasn't long before she collapsed with exhaustion, shivering on the damp soil. One of the PSFs started to walk towards her, and I knew I shouldn't have moved but there was a part of me that couldn't let this happen. He took out his calm control remote and I broke from the line, screaming at the top of my lungs. 

"STOP! Please, stop!" 

Everyone turned and stared. The rules were simple - you don't challenge a PSF, not unless you have some sort of death wish. Apparently, at that very moment, I did.

I walked towards the girl on the floor and pulled her to her feet. Another PSF put in a call to take her to the sickbay, while the first one rounded on me. He strolled towards me like he had all the time in the world, building suspense because everyone was watching now. He was hoping to make an example of me. As he neared, I felt something inside of me. Like a storm, it was growing uncontrollably and at an alarming rate. The moment he raised his bat it tore the energy from me, latching on to the nearest thing it could - his radio. 

It probably wasn't one of his finest moments. The shock left him writhing on the floor, shouting out in pain. It was over for him not long after, but for me, the pain was just beginning. I was taken into the camp coordinators office and zip-tied to a chair with rubber gloves over my hands. My ears were still ringing from the blast of calm control they gave me, but every now and then I could make out a few sentences. Most of it was the camp controller shouting at the doctor. "How? How could you let this happen? Misidentifying a blue as a green, that could happen. But a yellow as a blue? Surely that's not _possible_?"

The doctor sighed. "I swear on my life, I thought she was blue, I really did." 

The camp coordinator wasn't having any of it. "Well, maybe she was an orange and only made you _think_ she was a blue? No, that never happens. None of you could be that STUPID." 

He turned to me. His eyes taking in every detail of me, it made me shudder and he noticed. "What about you? What have you got to say about this?" He slammed his hand down on the table. All I could do was stammer a faint response.

"I thought I was blue too."


	3. Part One: Chapter Two

They kept me in the basement for two weeks. I thought they were going to kill me. Sometimes I wished they had. As it turned out, what they had in store was much worse. A new doctor came one day, she was nice. She came to take my blood and to give me new clothes.

"My name is Dr Amber. I'm here to help you. You can come with me and we can sort this whole mess out." So I followed her. That was my first mistake.

If it wasn't the Leda Corp insignia on the car that gave her away, it was the fact that the kindness in her eyes had been replaced with a cold, hard glare. I struggled but it was too late, her grip on my bound wrists tightened, and she practically threw me into the back of the car. The doors locked immediately and the screen in front of each window rose, leaving the back of the car in almost complete darkness. It enveloped me and I was grateful for it, it meant that the lady in the front seat couldn't see my fear.

The drive wasn't too long, but that didn't make it any easier. The zip-ties cut into my wrists, rubbing them red and raw and every time she went over a pothole I was jolted in the back. By the time we arrived, I was bruised - and not just from my time in the camp. We were greeted at the door by two more soldiers - bodyguards, not PSF - and they led us to the fifth or so floor, my tired legs had lost count of the steps I had taken by that point and I all but fell into the room they had assigned me to. There was one other person in the room, facing the wall, she seemed to be cradling something in her hand. Her head was half-shaved, but the other side of it was covered in long, matted hair down to her elbows. She was thin - all sharp angles, but her smile was welcoming as she turned around to face one of her own. 

It was then when I saw what she was holding. A single, bright flame.

"Who are you?" She cocked her head to the side slightly, clearly trying to figure me out.

"Two six f-" I started to rattle off my Psi ID number from the camp and paused. That's not me, that's not my name. My name... it actually took me a second before I could say it, no one had said it to me in a long time. "Aria." 

"That's better," she paused. "I'm Michelle." The flame in her hand flickered and died as she crossed the small space between us to sit beside me. It was only when she pressed her still-warm hand up against me did I realise I was shivering. Grateful for the warmth, I rested my head on her shoulder. I used to do that with Ellie before things got complicated - when it was just me and my best friend against the world. Maybe this place was going to be better than Black Rock?

~

My hopes of Leda Corp's testing facility turned out to be just that - hopes. The place was a glorified camp, except with more blood tests, brain scans and experiments. I've been poked and prodded and jabbed and tested. So many tests. They couldn't figure out what I was. I've been blue, I've been yellow evidently. Does that make me in the middle somewhere? I know I can't be both. Or can I? It's just gotten so damn confusing. Until the day when they finally seemed to have cracked it, figured out the ability that no one else had. It had only taken them a few years. Scratch that, it took them _six_. 

They put me in a room with a boy a few years younger than me, told me to chat to him for a bit, shake hands and then leave. They asked me an hour later to finish and memorise 13 digits of Pi. Somehow I managed, and this made them happy. Not long after that, they had me do the same thing with a girl a year older than me. I finally understood what they were getting at. I touch her, she was a blue, I become blue. I was no fixed colour, it changed almost as much as the weather, and as far as they had told me it disappeared after 24 hours unless I made physical contact again.

Since they figured this out, I was moved into a single room alone. They didn't appear to be taking any chances. As it happens, the Psi virus affects me differently, as when I was younger I was in an accident, leading to me needing to have a neural graft. Because of that, instead of having the Psi virus take hold in any certain area of the brain to reward a specific color, I had it like a coating, ready to activate on the part of the brain used in the person I touched. The doctor who brought me here, Dr Amber, told me that through time I'd be able to distinguish a person's color through touching them and control each different power in turn. There were only a few like me, who'd been through the things that I had to lead to this moment. 

"If I'm not a green, blue, yellow, orange, or red then what am I?" I asked, looking up at Dr Amber questioningly as she took my blood. At that moment I wasn't sure why, but I needed something to anchor me down if even the slightest change could change me at any time.

"I think we have a name... it's a work in progress and it's unofficial. No one outside Leda Corp currently knows the meaning of it." The doctor flicked through pages and pages of notes and drawings, following the words with her finger until the finally found what she was looking for.

"Well, what is it then?" 

"Indigo. We're calling them Indigo. And you are no longer in the official system." 

"What do you mean?"

"As of today, outside of these walls, you no longer exist."


	4. Part One: Chapter Three

They probably regret telling me that I have the potential to identify the powers of others by touch. They definitely regret telling me that once I have a power I can learn to master them as well as anyone with a single ability. Why?

I used that information to escape.

~

It was just after the daily checkup with Dr when on my way out - escorted by two armed soldiers as usual - I spotted Michelle on the way to her appointment with the doctor next door. Making an excuse to tie my shoelace, I crouched down onto the floor as she went past, to anyone looking I was tying my shoes but what I was really doing was waiting for the right moment to brush my elbow against her bare ankle as she walked past. Slightly more subtle than trying to touch her with my hand. 

They took me back to my room and locked the door behind me. The effect of my former roommate's ability took hold within an instant, like all of the anger inside of me had been watching, waiting for a chance to be let out like a monster in a cage. Like the monster I had let it become. It was almost overpowering, the heat coursing through my veins, scorching me from the inside. So this was what it was like to be a red.

Minimal effort was used to break through the lock on the door and soon I was strolling through the corridors of Leda Corp's office. The key aspect of blending in is acting as if you belong there. This made it slightly harder to be the only seventeen-year-old walking through a lab run by adults. The fact that I had never done this before only decreased my subtlety. 

Michelle's powers were a caution, not a weapon. I didn't want to hurt anyone. That didn't stop the worst from happening. As I turned the corner, six guards stood blocking the door, guns raised. I didn't mean to kill them, but turning myself over didn't seem like the best option. There was just fire everywhere, I don't even remember how it actually happened - one minute they were there, aiming their weapons at me, and the next the flames had engulfed them. I didn't bother waiting so I ran headlong into the heat, trying to get to the door. Locked. LOCKED. Locked and bulletproof glass. I should've anticipated this. Since when was escape supposed to be easy?

I coughed violently and continuously as I tried to get the door open and my eyes were burning from the smoke. Giving up, I tried banging on the door instead to get the attention of someone outside - at this point they could've been a PSF for all I cared, I hadn't come this far just to die now. The flames had spread across the building now, and a loud crash indicated that part of the second floor had now merged with the first. I tried a single, last, half-hearted attempt at breaking through the door before my legs gave way and I sank to the floor, leaning against the ever-heating glass. At this point, it was a relief to wander back into my mind as my vision went from blurred flames to stars and finally to black.

~

As I woke and my eyes focused, what I initially thought was the cracked ceiling above turned out to be a canopy of trees. I could still smell smoke, but it was from the recent ashes of the dwindling pile of twigs a few feet away. There was a small jacket rolled up underneath my head, bracing it against the cold, hard ground. A quiet relief from the brutal heat of the flames. It was a relaxing moment to be in... until my thoughts caught up with my senses and I pieced together what had happened in the last few hours. The brief 'plan', the escape, the fire, the locked door.

I sat bolt upright, trying to shake off the film that seemed to have placed itself over my movements, making everything painfully slower than usual. Another bought of coughs racked my chest and if I had finished a moment later, I wouldn't have heard the footsteps behind me. Spinning around, I meant to try and brace myself for a fight, but I ended up leaning on the figure for support as the next coughing fit took hold with even less notice than the last. Then a notably southern accent reminded me what I was supposed to be doing.

"You okay there darlin'? Gave me quite a scare." I looked up at where the voice had come from, about to say something in reply but my mind had gone blank and I was overcome by the sudden urge to sit down. I practically collapsed onto him, my fists clenched in his flannel shirt and I ended up dragging us both to the ground. "I'm assuming I should take that as a no then. By the way, I'm Liam Stewart." 

"Aria." I managed to reply, wheezing. Liam held my shoulders as coughs shook my entire body. 

"That was a fierce blaze, how'd it start?" He handed me a piece of cloth to wipe my face with, and I realised it was the charred remains of the shirt he must have been wearing when he rescued me. 

"Red." I could only attempt one-word sentences at this point, my head was pounding and my vision had gone fuzzy at the edges, making Liam's head look like it was surrounded by a golden halo when really it was just a few pieces of his blonde hair curling up at the edges. Another voice sort of brought me back to my senses, and the person seemed to be having a conversation with himself?

"Lee. Who is this? Why is she here? And why do you both look like you just waltzed out the gates of hell?"

"Chubs - calm it, alright? She would've _died_." Liam put extra emphasis on the 'died', and I shuddered as another load of coughs erupted out of me, leaving my throat dry and making me feel like screaming. 

"Aria." These people seemed nice, but I couldn't drag them into my problems. What if one of them was orange? Or red? That didn't turn out so well last time. Luckily, the coughs stopped long enough for me to take in the current situation and the blur at the edges of my eyes had receded just enough for me to see all three of them. There was a young girl on the left, she was short so she could've been from nine to maybe twelve years old. Her hair was a short fuzz, slowly growing back after it had obviously been shaved, and she was wearing yellow rubber gloves. Rubber cancels out electricity... she must be yellow. But what would the other two be?

The boy who wasn't Liam - Chubs, he called him - the kid was like a beanpole, how do they call him Chubs? Answered my question unintentionally by using telekinesis to lift a small box out of the side of the minivan. Wait, minivan? I must've been seriously out of it if I hadn't noticed the large black minivan next to us, sticking out like a sore thumb on the dirt track into the woods.

"You're blue?" I asked, completely aware of how ridiculous the question sounded given that 'Chubs' was obviously a blue thanks to that quick demonstration. 

"Yeah, I'm blue. So is Lee, and Zu is yellow." Yellow, I had been right then. "What are you? Please say you aren't a red and are going to burn us alive?" 

Well, he was half right, in that case. I was about to open my mouth, but then I started to consider whether I could trust these people or not. Yes, Liam saved my life, and for some reason, I don't doubt he'd do it again, but 'Chubs' doesn't appear very welcoming so far, and Zu is yet to have an opinion. 

While I was thinking, Liam interrupted with "Fire is a bit of a sensitive subject at the moment." He hinted at his still slightly singed hair and the remains of the shirt on the floor beside us. I tried to say something but forgot what it was. Instead, I held out a hand to be helped up from the floor, and Liam took it without a second thought. I felt the energy now, blue.

"I'm blue too." It was the simplest answer. Technically it was true at the moment, and for as long as I'm around them it should stay that way - I'd just have to be careful around Zu. I had so many questions, but somehow the first one I asked ended up being "Why 'Chubs'?"

He sighed and looked at the other two, Liam visibly hiding a grin that was slowly spreading across his face. Zu was the same - neither of them could look the other in the eye as Chubs shot them an irritated but slightly accepting glare through his glasses. He turned back to me. "My name - my real name, is Charles Carrington Meriwether IV. Chubs is a nickname I got at Caledonia." I looked him up and down in response.

"There are four of you?" I tilted my head to the side a little, one eyebrow raised. I only received a glare in response, this one without the hint of warmth from before. He could've passed for a red right then, if his glare was any hotter his glasses could've focused it into a laser beam. I was about to change the subject when Lee did it for me.

"Everyone in, Chubsicle - you can look her over for more injuries once Black Betty's back on the road. Any objections? No? Good." That appeared to be all it took for them to start packing up the makeshift camp and make their way back to the minivan. I did all I could, packed up the shirt that had been folded under my head and I slowly walked towards the minivan, acting like the van being called 'Black Betty' wasn't the weirdest thing I had heard today. In actual fact, it wasn't. That title would have to go to 'chubsicle'.

We piled in the battered old minivan and it had a sort of homely feel to it. I collapsed in one of the back seats and Chubs perched next to me, a homemade first aid kit balanced on his lap. "What happened to you?" He asked, "I stand by my previous statement referring to 'gates of hell'."

I laughed in response and my earlier thought of telling them I was blue withered and died. I'd only been with these people for ten minutes (that I'd been conscious for) and their trust in each other was already beginning to wear off me. We'd reached an abandoned highway when I took a deep breath and steadied my hand which had been clenching and unclenching in a stress-filled motion for the most part of the journey. 

"Actually, I have a confession to make." The words woke Chubs up from his restful nap and his laser glare focused on me again. "I need to tell you guys this because I think I want you to trust me, and I think I want to trust you. But for this to work you have to know the truth - the whole truth." 

Before I could continue, Chubs practically screamed. "I knew it, Lee!" She's a red! Pull thE GODDAMN CAR OVER RIGHT NOW BEFORE SHE FRIES US." Even though it was clear he was doing it for his friend's benefit, Liam complied and the car rolled to a stop behind a quiet diner. Feeling slightly less confident than I had moments ago, with three pairs of eyes looking at me, I took another breath before starting. 

"I've already been at a camp - Black Rock. I was there for longer than I initially thought because after spotting that calendar-" I nodded at the diary on the seat next to Zu- "It's been at least a few years since I was taken in, and I'm guessing I'm about 17 right now, maybe 18. I was originally entered into the system as blue, but that's not entirely true." And from there I explained everything. The yellow on garden duty, Leda Corp, and finally ending with passing out behind the locked door.

Naturally, Chubs didn't believe me. Or at least he didn't believe the part about me being an indigo. So I had to prepare a demonstration. "Alright, alright. I'll prove it. Everybody out." They followed me out of Betty and stood a few clear feet away from where I was. Understandably. Now, it was time to come up with an idea of how to show them I was telling the truth. The easiest part was showing them the telekinesis which I got from Lee. To prove a point, I used it to lift Chubs. He wasn't impressed.

"I swear to God if you don't put me down right this second I'll..." He trailed off as his glasses started to slide down his nose as I tilted him sideways. Liam was trying not to enjoy this, but I could see how he was conflicted so I let Chubs back on the ground. Once his feet were firmly back on the tarmac, he smoothed his shirt down and adjusted his collar. "You've proved that you're a blue, but what about yellow?" 

This was the part I wasn't looking forward to as much. I sighed and offered out a hand to Zu, who took it. After a moment, I finally put my hand against her bare shoulder and felt the rush of energy between us. She scuttled back to Liam and he put his arm around her protectively, I couldn't blame him. At this point, not even I was sure of what I could be capable of. I took multiple steps back and looked around the area for an easy target. 

"After I've done this, it might attract unwanted attention so I need you guys to properly run back to Betty so we can leave here ASAP, okay?" I got a few wary nods in response. Closing my eyes, I groped around blindly for the electricity that had been so eager to consume me in the garden that day at Black Rock. I felt it pulling me, and once I had a hold it was easy to overload, bit by bit. The ring of street lights above us shattered one by one with a satisfying pop. Chubs was the first back in Betty, Liam next only pausing to lift Zu up through the door. He began to start up the engine so I dived in as he pulled out of the parking lot, breathless and sweating. I looked at Chubs in the mirror above me. "Well?" 

"I believe you. I don't trust you, but I believe you." 

"Chubs!" Liam went to elbow him lightly and realised that he had elbowed me instead since Chubs was in the back with Zu instead of the front seat next to him. He gave me an apologetic smile as he adjusted the mirror again. 

"What? I'm just being honest here." Chubs shrugged a response in the back as he opened a book and began reading. "But at the next stop, I need to have a little chat with our new ride-mate." He looked at me as he unfolded the page corner, clearly wanting to say something but he held it back. I didn't question it. 

After everything, I still had one unanswered question. 

"Hey, Stewart. How did you get me out of there?" I turned around to look at him in the front seat, cueing both Chubs and Zu to do the same, with Zu resting her chin on her hands and leaning forward in her seat a little. 

"Well... I was syphoning gas from one of the cars across the street when I smelt the smoke, and then I saw the fire. I wasn't going to do anything but I saw you behind one of the doors." He looked away out the window, and then back at me. "I just couldn't leave you there." The question seemed to make him uncomfortable, so I changed the subject, even though I could feel my smile growing by the second in response to his answer. I wasn't going to be alone anymore.

"So where are we going exactly?"

This prompted a grin from Lee and Zu and a sigh from Chubs. "East River. We're going to see the Slip Kid."


	5. Part One: Chapter Four

"I don't know why you all look so happy. We're going to where? To see who?" I raised my eyebrows as I folded my arms. For all I knew, they could be speaking a foreign language and I would've understood more! Liam and Zu seemed too filled with excitement to give me a real answer, so that was down to Chubs.

"Allegedly there's this place where kids can live together without being bothered by PSFs or skip tracers or being forced into camps. It's run by this guy - the Slip Kid - who's supposedly slipped custody a few times. Legend has it, he has a computer so kids can contact their parents."

Contact their parents... that wouldn't work for me, and my Aunt and Uncle are the people who gave me up to the PSFs so I doubt they'd want to see me. In the meantime, I could get on board with hanging out with this trio. So I started to nod.

"Yeah, okay I'm in." 

Zu and Lee high-fived each other through the gap in the seats as I looked out the window again. The fuzzy blur had come back again as if I was permanently looking through a pane of frosted glass. Shaking my head to clear it, I rested it against the cool glass to try and relieve my headache. It didn't take long for me to drift off into a restless sleep. 

~

I'm not sure how long I was out, but I almost headbutted Chubs as I woke up, he was leaning over me with a small torchlight.

"What the hell, Chubs?" I rubbed my head from where it had almost collided with the bridge of his nose.

"Charles." He corrected.

"Charles," I repeated, before attempting to ease myself into a sitting position and failing. "Hang on, weren't we in Betty just now?" 

"By just now, I sure hope you mean five hours ago." He shook his head, his fingers on my wrist to measure my pulse.

"I slept for five hours?" I looked around the space that we were in, taking in the details. 

"You slept for 30 minutes, we arrived at this place, you took one step out the minivan and passed out." 

"Huh, I think I would've remembered falling flat on my face." 

"I don't think you remember anything _because_ you fell flat on your face."

"Oh." The conversation came to an abrupt end, but I wasn't done yet. "So what do you think it is, Doctor Charles Carrington Meriwether IV?" I think I startled him having remembered his whole name, although I've always been good with names and faces. I tried to swing my feet off the bed to get up, rubbing at the area of my forehead where I face-planted the floor but I was held to the bed by an invisible force known as none other than Chubs' free hand as he poured me a glass of water with the other. 

"You get up this soon and there's a 60% chance you'll fall unconscious again within the next half an hour, and there's a 20% chance that once you do, you won't wake up again."

I froze, not that I could've moved if I wanted to, but the realisation hit me like a truck.

"Chubs," I started.

"Charles," he corrected again.

"Charles, are you telling me I'm dying?" 

"No, I'm calculating the possibility of you dying. There's a difference."

"How could I possibly be dying?" I recoiled, confused and scared. "I'm what, seventeen? I've not been shot, stabbed or poisoned, have I?" My eyes strayed to the glass of water on the table beside me, the contents of which I had downed without thinking. 

"No. I didn't poison you Aria, so you can wipe that look off your face. But I do think you are suffering from smoke inhalation and/or carbon monoxide poisoning from the fire Lee so graciously saved you from." 

Smoke inhalation. Carbon monoxide poisoning. Fire. Liam. "Is he..." I trailed off, not sure if I wanted an answer or not.

"Lee's fine. He was in there for less than a minute, where you managed to survive it for up to 10." Chubs moved to perch on the bed next to me, appeared to think better of it, before giving in to his first thought and leaning against the back of the bed - an obvious divide between us. "But you on the other hand... you can't come to East River with us." 

"Excuse you?" I tried to sit up again and this time, he let me.

"Not because I don't want you there. Well, in actual fact I don't really. In any case, you shouldn't come because I doubt they'd be able to help you. You'd need proper medical treatment. 

I couldn't think of anything to say. It had been barely a day and I had already found myself at home with Lee, Chubs and Zu. Now I had to leave? It wasn't fair. "Where do you suggest I go? Back to a camp?"

"Look, I don't know. I also don't know how long you have but you have to understand, you have two options here. Either you stay, pretend everything's fine and then die, scarring both Lee and Zu, or you leave and get yourself thrown back in a camp and die in there before you can get to a hospital. Your choice. 

"I die either way? Damn, and I thought the 'parent choosing their favourite kid' scenario was harsh." This time, Chubs let out a short chuckle at my response, understanding my reference. 

"Any suggestions on what to do? I have a feeling which option you prefer." 

"I don't have reservations. Sleep on it. I'm going to tell Liam and Suzume that they can come and see how you're doing - he's been pacing the room next door for the last forty minutes and she's been doodling two girls holding hands surrounded by lightning bolts for the past hour and a half in her notebook." I smiled, imagining the scene that had been going on unbeknownst to me in the neighbouring room. 

As soon as he opened the door, Chubs was greeted by both Zu and Lee and their best puppy dog eyes. He gave them a nod and told them not to keep me awake for too long, I'd be fine by morning if I got a good night's sleep. Not much of that was true, but I appreciated the effort. Zu came in immediately and curled up next to me silently. Clearly, I'd had more of an impact on the little girl than I thought. Liam was more hesitant, he wandered in slowly, looking at the walls, the ceiling, Zu and then finally at me. 

"Feeling any better darlin'?" He smiled a half-smile and eventually sat on the other bed opposite me - but not without falling over the desk and the chair by the door on the way over, and knocking over the empty glass by my bed.

"I'm tired as." I grinned. "Know any good bedtime stories? I've told you pretty much all about my life - well at least the parts that matter. Yet I know nothing about you." 

"Hey, you mattered before Black Rock just as much as you matter now." 

"Well? I'm expecting a story and you better make it good." 

"Okay then, fine. Where should I start?" I noticed his eyes drift towards the sleeping Zu before coming back to me. 

"How about the beginning?" 

"Okay, I'll start from the almost beginning. I'm not going back any further just yet. Right, so before IAAN, I had a brother Cole and a sister Claire." 

He told me everything. About Claire, about Cole joining the Children's league, about Liam joining and escaping the league. Caledonia. Jack. Everything.


	6. Part One: Chapter Five

It had been a week and a half, Chubs had told me I didn't have that much longer left to make my decision. It was a pretty hard choice to make. Although one day, after a run-in with Lady Jane - a skip tracer trying to haul our asses back to camp - the choice was made easier. 

We had stopped Betty by the cover of some trees, somewhere in Virginia by an old gas station. Zu had gone inside to steal some snacks and Lee and Chubs were just about to check that the coast was clear for us to continue - without Lady Jane. Only, I was sure I could hear voices. Creeping around the side of a truck, I listened in to the conversation.

"I know Rob, I know. Let's just get these kids back to the League HQ, okay?"

The League. Could this by any chance be the same Children's League that Liam had told me about? If this were true, even if they were bad they might be the better option than dying or going to a camp. I had to tell Chubs.

I ran back to Betty and skidded to a halt next to Chubs and Lee, visibly out of breath. Knowing this might be the last time, I appreciated Liam's steadying hand on my shoulder. I gave him a quick hug and said "Thanks. Just, thank you." Before grabbing Chubs and muttering something about needing to talk urgently as I dragged him after me around the corner. "I've made my decision." 

"You have? I'm guessing you're not staying then."

"I've found the League."

"You've found the LEAGUE? Are you crazy?"

"I'm not crazy, I'm dying. Anyway, they can't find Lee - you guys need to get Zu and get out of here now!"

"I'm not too keen on this, Aria. Maybe you should think this through..." 

"Aww, Chubsie-" I feigned shock- "are you worried about me?" 

"No, I'm worried about Lee and Zu... what would Lee think if he knew you were going to the League? He hates those people!"

I sighed and looked back at Black Betty, Lee leaning against the driver's door. Then I turned towards the gas station, thinking of precious little Zu collecting food. Have him feel betrayed or guilty? Betrayed that I've gone to the League... or guilty that he couldn't save me? The boy with a heart of gold, the hero without a mask. Liam Stewart is probably one of the most honest people I have ever met, and yet I was about to lie to him when he had done nothing but help me. It wasn't fair. Then again, since when had life been _fair_?

"I've made my decision, Chubs. I can't stay." Unexpectedly, I wrapped him in a quick but necessary embrace. "Do me a favour? Make sure Lee doesn't do anything stupid?"

He grinned in response, "What? Like... run into burning buildings to save dying girls? I'm afraid I can't make that kind of promise." I took one last look at him, at his slightly crooked glasses, thinking of the way he had helped me. 

"Thank you. For everything." 

And then I turned on my heel and walked towards the front of the gas station. "Ah, you must be the League people. Didn't anyone ever tell you you're hard to find? I've been trying to track you down for MONTHS! Names Aria, Aria Stacey. And I think I can be _very_ useful to your cause."


	7. Part One: Chapter Six

The two agents stared at me in awe. They were probably surprised that I'd managed to sneak up on them. Instinctively, I presume, the man drew his gun and stepped forward. I tossed it from his hand with a flick of my wrist. He moved to grab another but the lady stopped him. She took a step forward.

"Hi, I'm Catherine Connor and this is Rob. If what you say is true then we can take you to the League. But you have to trust me and swear you won't try anything. Understand?"

I nodded. Not wanting to explain my indigo situation, I let them believe that I was blue for the time being. I opened my mouth, about to ask a question when a large crash was heard from inside the gas station. _Zu_. I went to move but Cate was already flying in there, screaming a name. Ruby. I didn't want to prove my alliance wasn't with them, so I hoped Zu had gotten out of there and back to Black Betty in time. It wasn't long before Cate was back, and she was hot and flustered, her cheeks turning red and a fierce look of determination in her eyes. 

"Everyone in the car. We need to get Ruby. Rob, follow the black van." 

I slid into the back seat of the tan SUV, the firm leather making me miss Betty's worn down seats. The boy next to me was looking at me curiously. A thought slipped into my mind. _I wonder if he..._ I shut it down instantly. That's not mine, that's not supposed to be there. That means he's orange. If he's orange, does that mean he knows I'm indigo?

My train of thought was interrupted as the car crashed into a bright red pickup truck, I recognised the woman inside instantly - Lady Jane, the skip tracer following us for the last few days. More importantly, she was tracking Lee. I did the only thing I knew how, I grabbed the boys wrist and before I knew it, I was in his head. It was too much but I couldn't pull out. His name was Martin, and he wasn't a nice person. I managed to break free and tried slipping into Rob's mind. Not too deep - just the surface, just the part of the brain controlling muscle movements. I was in control. Rob jerked the wheel as I tried to run Lady Jane off the road. No luck. A few more times and she skidded on an uneven patch of the stretch and started to spin. It was just us and Betty now. 

The back doors swung open, revealing Lee hanging out of the back, Chubs holding onto him for dear life. If neither of them were driving, who was? Liam had his hand out, and it didn't take long for me to realise what he was doing. He was using his abilities. I heard the tree over the sound of the engine before I actually saw it, and it was thrown into the path of the car. I hoped Liam hadn't seen me lean forward from the backseat into the gap between Cate and Rob. The car lurched as Rob spun the wheel 360 and the car screeched to a halt parallel to the uprooted tree. I let out a little whistle as the battered old minivan disappeared off into the distance, the back doors slamming shut and Lee and Chubs panting by the back seats. 

I took in the current scene. As the car shuddered to a stop, Rob had been half-smothered by one of the airbags - he was frantically beating it out of his face as it slowly deflated, and there was a thin cut dripping blood down the side of Cate's head. The moment we were stationary, one of the doors had been opened, and Martin had emptied the contents of his stomach onto the grassy verge on the side of the road. Proud of my handiwork, I leant forward and slapped Rob on the shoulder to draw attention away from me. 

"Nice driving, Rob." 

He sighed and shook his head. Cate looked up at him, phone in hand. "Now would be a good time to call for backup." 

~

From the moment I arrived at the League, I could see the parts that made it the way Lee had described, but at the same time I felt the atmosphere from some of the kids here and it was clear to them it felt like home. When we arrived, we were greeted by a boy and a girl. The boy had reddish-brown curly hair, and he seemed to be fiddling with a spinning compass. The girl quietly hugged Cate before stepping back, and the boy was hopping from foot to foot waiting for his turn. 

"This is Vida, she's a blue and Jude, he's a yellow." 

Jude was quick to give me a welcoming hug, and I even felt bad when I pulled away quickly to hug Vida. She wasn't keen on it but I had to get rid of Martin's abilities. I kept hearing people's thoughts and it was starting to get to me. 

"This is Aria, she's also blue." 

Well, I am now. I gave a little wave and CAte told me she would come to get me in half an hour after Vida could show me where I'd be sleeping. She didn't say much on the way there, but she did take me to the room where the bunks were. Coincidentally, ours were next to each other. Unfortunately for me, that didn't mean she had to talk to me. 

I had two priorities at the League. The first was to get treatment so I wouldn't die, and the second to find cole. I had a desperate urge to find Liam's brother, if no other reason than to tell him that Lee was okay. I tried to ask Vida but she rolled her eyes and replied with, "Ask Judith, I'm busy," before strolling off down the corridor.

Jude wasn't hard to find. He was in a small room with a few bunks in, sitting with a boy on a computer. He removed his headphones for a record-breaking time of two seconds, just long enough to introduce himself as Nico, before resuming whatever he was doing. Jude just shrugged and led me down the corridor. I tried to avoid physical contact with him, but this boy was like a lovable puppy and he looked hurt whenever I stopped him from putting his arm around me as he showed me through the maze of corridors. 

The door to Cole's room was shut, so I knocked. No reply. I was about to leave when a figure so eerily similar to Lee rounded the corner. If I hadn't known Liam wasn't here then I would've almost definitely confused the two. I opened my mouth but was cut off by the familiar southern accent. "I'm busy. Whatever you have to say to me, darlin' it'll have to be tomorrow." 

And the door was slammed in my face. 

~

I have tried to see Cole more than a reasonable amount of times in the past few days I have been here. I have tried wedging my foot in the door, blocking the way, pretty much everything. And I have to admit, my language had become slightly more colourful recently thanks to the time I had spent with Vida. She has an... _interesting_ perception of the English language. 

Today, I had finally had enough. Cole was inside his room and I was banging on the door outside. "Listen here Stewart, I am here for one reason. And all I've got in return in 'raincheck?', 'later?' and 'reschedule?'. So you better come out here so we can chat before I break your fucking door down." 

In response, I received a muffled laugh and a "Well you won't have to try very hard, it's open." 

I barely heard him, I was too busy ranting at this point. "Look, I have tried to be a nice person here. All I wanted to do was talk about Lee but no-" 

I was cut off as the door abruptly swung open, just long enough for Cole to pull me through into the dimly lit room behind. I was pushed up against the wall, my arms pinned above my head and I barely had time to take in the details of the room or the fact that Cole Stewart was undeniably shirtless because I was too focused on the worry in his blue eyes. He leant in close to me, and I could feel the heat of his body. 

"What do you know about my brother?" 

"He saved my life. Once."

I had been too taken by surprise at what had just happened to notice at first, but I began to recognise the all-too-familiar tingling sensation sending sparks through my veins. I managed to pull myself away from him, my heart beating louder than thunder. I could barely think straight. 

I only said one sentence before I shot out the door, panicked and breathless.

"Holy shit... you're a red." 

His eyes went wide with terror and it was the last thing I saw before I ran out the door, not caring if it slammed behind me. Red. He's a red. 

_Liam's brother is a red._


	8. Part One: Chapter Seven

I was woken up by Vida leaning over me, with an anxious Jude by her side and Nico on the seat next to him. I didn't even know where I was. 

"Jesus, girl. We thought you were dead!" Vida had a slightly worried look on her face, but it was masked by her usual aura of sarcasm. 

"Where? How? Why?" My mind couldn't form full sentences, and I was completely disoriented by the bright lights of what I was guessing was the hospital wing. 

"Vi found you passed out by the training room. We brought you straight here, that was a few hours ago." Jude turned the compass over and over in his hands. 

"Hush Judith. She seems fine now, probably just dehydrated or something. You've got a meeting with Alban in ten, might as well get up now." 

I grabbed her wrist as she turned to go, feeling the last of Cole's fire evaporate and be replaced by the cool reassurance of telekinesis. It hit me again. _Cole was a red_. I had to go. I had to find him. I went to get out of bed, ignoring the second wave of dizziness that swept over me. 

"You good?" Jude followed me to the door, grabbing my jacket from the hook and handing it to me as I went through. 

"I'm fine." I was not fine. I hadn't even had any time to officially tell anyone I could trust that I needed medical help. I was too focused on Cole. Shrugging on my jacket for warmth, I made my way towards Alban's office. Just before the door, I froze. The voices inside were shouting, and it wasn't hard to make out what they were saying. 

"How did she know?"

"I don't know. One minute we were there, and the next..." I recognised Cole's voice.

"We have to get rid of this problem."

"If you're saying what I think you're saying, I disagree." 

"John, be reasonable here." That was definitely Cate.

"You're one of our greatest assets, we can't have a _child_ who has barely been here two minutes derail our chances!" 

I couldn't stand it any longer. I burst through the door, and as everyone turned to face me I realised that the scowl on my face was more pronounced than I intended. Either way, I let the door slam shut behind me and waited. "I think this seems like a conversation that should include me, doesn't it?" I took their silence as an invitation to pull up a chair. 

"Aria, I-" Cate began to speak, but she was silenced by the rise of Alban's hand. He would've been the other voice that I had picked up on from outside the door.

"You don't have a high enough security clearance for this. You're a liability at this point - you haven't proven your worth here and it's beginning to show. How do we know you can be trusted?" He spoke like a true diplomat, and his government background was clear.

"Cate - when I found you at that gas station, I said that I could be very useful to your cause. Right now," I took a deep breath before continuing, "I am going to show you the reasons why." 

I picked up a pencil from Alban's desk and passed it between my fingers. I threw it up in the air and caught it. Up and down. Up and down. Up and... I held it in the air, spinning, and with a flick of my wrist brought it back to my hand. 

"You're a blue, we know, we have lots of blues." 

I shook my head. "I'm not blue. I'm indigo." I stood up and crossed the room to Cole, who hadn't said a word since I'd arrived and held out my hand. He backed away, holding his hands in the air out of reach. I had to admit, this was a big risk. Could I trust these people? I had to. There was no other way.

"I need your hand. Cole, I need you to trust me." I turned to Alban after I took Cole's hand. I could already feel the fire inside of me, waiting to be let out. I just needed an opportunity. Cole hovered at the back of the room, leaning against the wall appearing relaxed. It didn't take a genius to see how on edge he really was. Opening my hand, I held up the pencil. I twirled it between my fingers once again. Only this time, after I had caught it for the third time, the pencil burst into flames. Cate took a step back, and Alban tried to hide his surprise as I placed the pencil back down on the metal tray on the table, watching it as it burned. It wasn't long before Cate gave in to the urge to douse it with foam from the fire extinguisher by the door. She replaced it back in the rack, gave a nod to Alban and I've honestly never seen a person leave a room faster. 

"Meditate on that, Mr High and Mighty. This _child_ -" I put extra emphasis on the word _child_ , thinking back to the conversation I'd overheard before I came in- "is here to stay."

While they were reevaluating my terms, I had a feeling now was the perfect time to talk to one of the medics about my current condition. I bumped into Martin on the way out of the office, he was on his way to the 'interrogation rooms' I had heard so much about. Translation - the torture chambers. One thing I will _never_ accept about this place.

~

The walk back to the infirmary was short, and I asked to speak to one of the nurses almost immediately. She took me into a small side room and we sat down. "You're Aria, right?"

"That's me."

"The kid who passed out?"

"Jesus, yes that's me." 

"I've been meaning to talk to you about this." She picked up a scan and two images of different blood test results. "Do you know what these are?" 

I had a think before replying, "They're blood test results." 

She nodded and pointed to the first one. "These are healthy cells, taken from your blue-haired friend, Vida." She hesitated before holding out the second photo. "These are your cells. See the difference?" 

I shook my head in response. She sighed and handed it to me, to have a closer look. The cells in mine were darker than in Vida's. "They're darker in this one." I gave her back the photo. 

"Exactly. That's what happens when a person is exposed to large amounts of carbon monoxide." I wasn't surprised, after the fire... Chubs had been right.

"What does it mean then? Can I get some pills for the headaches and go?" I tilted my head in the direction of the medicine cabinet next to her and shrugged. 

"We'd have to send you off to a different facility for an HBOT - hyperbaric oxygen therapy - you're past the stage of standard oxygen therapy. It's rapidly decreasing your life expectancy."

"I can't go," I whispered. I was thinking of everything I'd be leaving behind - even the people who weren't at the League. If I'm here I could protect them, outside I... I can't. The memories flashed through my mind. Lee, Zu, Chubs, Vida, Jude. Cole? Cole. For Liam. 

"It's either the HBOT or your chances of living to 21 are looking slimmer by the day."

"Can I think about it?" I stood up to shake her hand. 

"Sure." The only reason she let me was probably because quite a few kids don't come back from their first missions. It didn't matter anyway. I'd already made up my mind. I held out my hand for her to shake it. Martin was useful for something, at least. Slipping into her mind was like unravelling a soft cloth, easy and welcoming. I erased the conversation and imprinted the strong desire to change my results to positive. No one could know. With that one handshake, I had sealed my fate. 

Because to me, **_nothing_** is more important than family. 


	9. Part One: Chapter Eight

The next few months were taken up mostly with training. There was another meeting with Alban scheduled to talk about my future at the League after the course was over. Sure enough, it almost was. There was only one final task and it was a paintball match against some of the trained operatives. There was my team - the newbies, barely out of training and still taking baby steps. And there was the elites - the team involving Cole, Vida, Rob and multiple other League agents who were practically soldiers. 

Battle tactics only - no abilities. Harsh, but fair. 

The groups were each seven people and both teams were lead by a captain. The elite captain was Rob and the newbie captain was some kid called Reece. He had decent ideas, but they lacked… the ability to work? We spread out across the ‘arena’, and I found myself in the back east corner. From my spot I could see quite far, far enough at least to spot Vida’s bright blue hair through her helmet, sticking out behind a fake gas container towards the back.

Surveying as far as I could, I looked out across my remaining teammates - two had already been picked off by either Cole or Rob across the west side. Things weren’t looking too good - Reece was one of the first to go. As I started to make my way to the enemy grounds, I heard a shot and a swear as another of my team was caught out. There was no capture the flag or anything in this, simply last man standing wins for their team. I stalked towards the closest elite - I could see them trying to do the same thing as me. A quick shot peppered the back of their jacket with yellow paint and the girl trudged off towards the sidelines. Another gunshot alerted me to the fact that someone else had been hit, and for once it wasn’t a member of my team. I saw the faint outline of Vida as she trudged towards the sidelines. 

The current team ratio of us left was a simple 5:2 out of the original 7:7. There were five of the elites, and the two being me and some other kid called Archie who was hiding out under a fake vehicle. I honestly don’t understand the League - they have enough money to turn an old warehouse into a Paintball range, but they can’t have decent showers? I took out one of the elites as he tried to sneak up on an oblivious Archie and another who was attempting to place a long shot on me. 3:2. Archie leant on his gun and it fired off one shot - only, it ricocheted off of the approaching elite… soaking them both in the yellow paint. A quick glance at the sidelines told me all I needed to know about who was left. 

2:1 - Cole, Rob and me.

The reflected sight in the trash lid next to me not only gave away my whereabouts, but it also gave away Rob’s as he flicked off the red light. It was easy to figure out where it had come from, and by staying silent I could just about hear the movement not that far away. Being the last member of my team “alive”, I had to win. So I followed the noise. As I moved, I checked how many pellets I had left to shoot. Four. Just right for what I needed, anyway. I took one out whilst picking up a small piece of something from the floor. I threw the decoy away from myself in one direction and watched as Rob fell for it. He moved from his crouching position towards the direction of my decoy. I took my chance and rolled the paintball pellet across the uneven ground towards his foot, praying it would be in the right place. It was. The impact of his foot caused the pellet to explode, but it was contained by the size of his shoe and the gravel beneath. The same gravel currently scraping my shins as I crouched behind a container. Rob lifted his foot up and I saw the yellow paint underneath his shoe. Every step he took, a patch of yellow gravel indicated where he had been. My own personal tracking method. 

The final person I had to find was Cole. He moved like a ghost, sticking to the shadows, only ever emerging to take a kill-shot. Skilled, yet predictable. It was time to take a risk. Knowing where Rob was, I moved towards the space directly between him and where I suspected Cole was hiding. I was either about to win or lose. In all fairness, I was probably going to be slowly hunted if I  _ didn’t _ try anything, so gambling was my best bet - no pun intended. While I moved, I thought about how to make my plan more concrete. The best idea that came to mind was Rob’s ego. 

I stood up, choosing my words very carefully as I came out from my hiding place. 

“I know who’s left.” I taunted, a faint sliver of a smile playing on my lips. “And I’m quite surprised that neither of you has caught me yet.” I paced the clearing, constantly changing direction so I couldn’t be hit from a distance. It wasn’t long before I noticed Rob shuffling towards me, keeping close to the ground - still leaving a trail of paint behind him. I counted in my head. Three shots left, two people, small margin for error. By now Rob and I were circling each other in the clearing. I knew how good of a shot Cole was, but I knew he couldn’t risk accidentally hitting Rob - the backlash from shooting him would make his life hell. It was an easy decision. Win? Or risk potentially dying on an Op at the hands of the corrupt League agent. What can I say? I’m a logical thinker. “Come out, come out Cole? Why don’t you join the party?” He timed it just right.

Cole appeared from thin air, from the dust in the shadows behind me, just as I became the midpoint between him and Rob. I spread my arms out, waiting to feel the familiar sensation I had become all too accustomed to during my training time at the League - a shot between the shoulder blades. But it never came. Either Cole was waiting for something, or he wanted to see what I could do in this impossible situation. “Come on Rob. I’ll give you the honour, here. An easy win, take it or leave it.” But Rob was a proud man, and I knew it. He wouldn’t take this unless I gave him a good enough fight. So I raised my gun. Rob was quicker. 

Or so he thought.

I ducked, and what should have been a headshot for me was a chest shot for a very surprised looking Cole. This very surprised looking Cole was staring at an equally bewildered Rob. If I had time, I would’ve laughed. But instead, I fired off a disarming shot into Rob’s crotch, and for good measure my remaining two pellets found themselves splattered over his chest and headgear. I pulled myself up from the floor and winced as a bolt of pain shot through my knee from the badly timed squat and I recognised the recurring pain of the dull ache that plagued my head every few days. Another side effect of the fact that I was still slowly dying. But then again,  _ aren’t we all _ .

Rob collected the guns with a sour look on his face. It was either from the pain he was in or from his ever-growing hatred of me. Cole’s look of surprise had morphed into a look of confusion and from there had now become the face of someone distinctly impressed. It was gone within an instant, replaced by the calculating look of a soldier. 

“Right, pack your stuff away. Debrief in 10 in the weapons room.”

I grabbed my stuff and followed him. Cole shrugged off his armoured jacket, the traces of Rob’s shot gone from his clothes as he grabbed his leather jacket, throwing it over his dark tee. I did the same with my hoodie, wiping a smudge of paint from the waistband of my jeans. I turned to face him, standing in the way of the door.

“Why didn’t you shoot me?”

“What?” He looked taken aback. 

“You heard me, Stewart. You could’ve shot me, taken the win for your team and you didn’t.” I folded my arms, raising one eyebrow as I asked again. “Why?”

“That’s not your concern.” He made to move to one side but I moved with him, continuing to block his way. “It was a stupid plan anyway, you could’ve gotten yourself killed.”

“It worked, didn’t it?”

“Irrelevant.” He replied. “You could’ve been shot, so there’s that.”

“Calm down, it’s just paintball. And you could’ve shot me, but you didn’t.”

“The whole point of these scenarios is to prepare you for something real, and the people you’re up against won’t hesitate to shoot you.”

“Then why did you?”

“Also irrelevant.” By now, the others had arrived in the weapons room and it was time for Cole to give the debrief. He took this chance to escape from my interrogation and stand on a crate. 

“Right. The only reason you lot won was sheer luck.” I rolled my eyes, but let him continue. He looked straight at me. “That… and the fact that Aria here,” he made the distinct point of gesturing to me with his free arm - the other was helping him balance on the box - to make sure everyone knew who I was. Even though we’d been training together for over a month. “Is the only one with balls.”

With that, he left.

At the exact moment that all the eyes in the room turned to me.

~

Alban’s office was the same as ever. Apart from the fact that he now had a facial recognition and retinal scan, passcode-protected lock. Something told me he didn’t want me to barge in there again shouting. Either that or he was hiding something. Yeah, he was probably hiding something. I leant against the door, waiting for the clock to tick over to 17:00 and for Alban to allow me in. It had only been five minutes since I’d arrived - early is on time, on time is late (military standards) - when Cole showed up. 

His hair was dripping wet, messy, and the water made it a shade darker than the blonde it usually was. A towel hung around his shoulders and he was wearing a different black t-shirt than the one he had on for training earlier. I should’ve asked him what he was doing here but instead, I found myself straight on the offensive. 

“You asshole! My training team hates my guts, thanks to you!”

He stifled a laugh before responding, “Why?”

“80% of my team is guys, and you basically straight up insulted their masculinity twenty minutes ago.”

Cole didn’t even bother  _ trying _ to hide his next laugh, it came out short, loud, and unexpectedly. I was about to say something else when the door opened and Alban escorted the two of us inside.


	10. Part One: Chapter Nine

_ Three weeks later _

I leant on the floor for a second, catching my breath as Cole held his hand out to help me get up. Grinning, I pulled him to the mat beside me and the look of surprise on his face indicated that he did not expect to have me now straddled across his chest, with his arms pinned above his head to the mat beneath us.

After a short while, I spun off, taking now as a good time to get a drink and take a few deep breaths. 

“What, no help?” Cole left his hand waiting in the air for some help up from the ground.

“And risk you doing to me what I just did to you? Never. Come on, old man.” I downed the cup of water and returned to the mat. My sparring partner was lying flat on his back whilst wiping sweat from his forehead. “How am I doing anyway? Crushing you?” I sat down next to him.

“I admit… you’re slightly better than I anticipated…” I let out a soft but quick laugh in response. Hand to hand combat was one of the only classes I aced here— next to battle strategy, of course. 

Alban’s idea of us working together one on one was pretty good, but I still paused before asking, choosing my words carefully and trying not to show the way my breath hitched in my throat as I spoke. “Can we move on to the… the erm, second part of our training?” I nodded to the row of fire extinguishers on the wall behind us, in case of emergencies. 

With a sigh, Cole nodded. He stood up from the mat without any help from me and took his water bottle from the side. His hair flopped into his face slightly and the smooth marks of his muscles were showing through his sweat-soaked tee. Before long he had joined me on the mat again and he shifted from one foot to the other.

“So… how does this work?”

“I just sorta touch you.”

“And it happens? Just like that?”

“Just like that. Yeah…”

Tired of putting it off, I grabbed his hand. It was soft to touch, yet also hard from the calluses that are only left behind by guns. Within an instant, I could feel the power inside of me and it was excuse enough to let go. Cole told me to take a deep breath, even though I was calm. 

“I’m calm. I’m fine. This is the most chill I have ever been in my entire life!” I tried to point out.

I was  _ not _ calm.

Once again, I found myself staring at the centre target in the row of three across the back wall. We were in a warehouse similar to the Paintball arena, and this was the twelfth time we were doing this. Trying to focus, I stared at the centre target. Low budget - it was a bale of hay with a black ‘X’ spray-painted onto it by yours truly. Nothing happened.

“Come on!” I practically screamed. Thrusting my arm out and nothing happened.

“Calm down, it’s fine. We’ll get there. What did you do last time to make it work?”

Last time. Oh yeah, last time I did this and it  _ worked _ , I burned down an entire fucking building, possibly killing multiple people in the process and shortening my own lifespan by about fifty years. But no biggie? Right? WRONG. 

“I can’t do this.” I walked towards the row of mirrors on the wall opposite the targets and took a long hard look at myself. I was not the same person I had been when I walked into the League. For better or for worse, I had changed. “This is stupid.” As I turned away from Cole, I could feel the same anger that always tried to control me in our sessions building up inside of me. I always thought it was anger, but it could’ve been fear. Fear of failure. Fear of dying. Fear of  _ something _ . If only I knew what it was. 

“Try again, you’ll get there. Something’s stopping you.” Cole tried, reassuringly.

“Yeah, no shit.” I rolled my eyes sarcastically at his reflection in the mirror. “This is useless. I quit.” Out of twelve sessions, this was the seventh time I had tried to walk out. Once again Cole tried to be supportive. Even though it was clear that I was officially a lost cause.

“At least try, one more time?”

“Shut up, Cole. I know you don’t care. You’re only doing this because Alban is forcing you.”

“No, I’m not.”

“Then. Why. Are. You. Here.” Every word that came out of my mouth was filled with a venom I didn’t even realise I possessed. Every syllable punctuated with the sound of cracking glass as I smashed my curled fist into the mirror. Cole watched me. He watched me fall apart.

“Well?!” Pieces of the shattered glass buried themselves in my hand but I ignored the pain. The pain of my hand. The pain in my head. The constant pain reminding me of the hell I was living. “WHY ARE YOU HERE COLE?” I screamed, blood dripping down my wrist, I could see him through the shards of glass that were somehow still attached to the wall. All the while Cole watched. He waited. Then it was his turn.

Pain filled his eyes, as he opened his mouth, as I punched the wall, the place where the mirror used to be one last time. 

“I—” He was cut off by the barrage of flame leaping up from all three targets. The fire was almost as high as the warehouse, its heat reaching where we were standing at the other end. “I…” It didn’t take long for Cole to compose himself. Everything he could’ve said lost in the wind. “I… always knew you could do it.” 

I started to sink to the ground, lost for words but Cole caught me before I reached it. Supporting my arms as he led me to a bench where I could sit without cutting myself anymore. I leant into him, still unable to speak as he wrapped my hand in a towel. Together, we watched as the blaze slowly diminished until all that was left were the charred remains. 


	11. Part One: Chapter Ten

I found myself sitting on a bed in the infirmary, after an excruciating hour of removing every single piece of glass from my hand. Thanks to Vida, my language was all the more colourful for the duration of the procedure. Who needs local anaesthetic when pain is character building? Cole had postponed the combat part of our private training sessions for three weeks because of my hand. Even though it was stitched, bandaged and was going to heal soon. I was gutted, the sessions were literally my favourite part of the week. And who doesn’t enjoy decking their friends in hand to hand combat?

“Are you sure it has to be three  _ entire _ weeks?” I complained to Cole. He was leaning against the door to the med-bay, running his hands through his hair. 

“Patience, young padawan. You’ll fight again soon enough.” He winked at me, and I rolled my eyes in response.

“God, you're such a nerd.”

“Hey, I have a reputation to uphold.” 

Raising my eyebrows, I stood up from the bed ready to leave. As I was about to go through the door - after moving Cole out of the way - I spotted the nurse who had given me my blood results. She paused before she went past, her eyes narrowing and taking in every aspect of me. 

“I’m sorry, have we met? I feel like I know you from somewhere.” To stop her from dwelling on the matter any longer, I shook my head and left. Too close. Way too close.

Being nosy as usual, Cole followed me out and overtook me in the corridor. He walked backwards in front of me with ease, carelessly avoiding those in his path - or they avoided him. 

“What was that about?”

“I don’t know what you mean.” I continued to walk towards the shower block, hoping I could potentially attempt to wash my hair with my good hand. Or at least with Vida’s help. Although I wasn’t sure if I could trust her to not put a streak of colour into it. 

“You do, the moment you saw that nurse you completely weirded out. Why?”

“Irrelevant.” 

He followed me all the way to the shower block, where luckily Vida was waiting. 

“I heard what happened, Boo. Did you really think destroying yourself would solve all of life’s problems? Come here.” She started to lead me by my good hand into the room, but Cole went to put his hand in the way of the closing door.

“Aria—”

“Goodbye Cole. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

The door swung shut in his face.

~

As it turns out, I didn’t have to wait until the next day to see Cole again. A mere two hours later, I returned to my bed to grab something and spotted a folder on my bed. That explains Cate rushing past me not that long ago, very preoccupied. 

Picking it up, I noticed that it was a briefing. My first, hopefully of many. It had the expected ‘for your eyes only’ on the front page, and inside it listed the agents required for the mission,  _ Stewart, Ghost _ . 

I remember the day they gave me the name ghost. ‘They’ being Alban. It was the evening of the infamous Paintball battle where I shot Rob in the crotch. Yes, it’s known by that throughout the agents, and people still laugh about it. The only downside to the event is that Rob looks like he wants to murder me every time we are so much as in the same room together. I had the meeting with Alban after, and that was the same day he told me I would be training privately with Cole to try and manage my abilities when I interact with a red. 

“Once you have proven to be in control, at least partially in control of the red abilities, as well as blue, then - and  _ only _ then will you take part in an Op. But as of now, you are officially an active agent. Welcome to the League, Agent Ghost.”

Usually, the kid agents have names based on colour, that’s why Jude is also known as Sunshine - even though he’s too young to be qualified. Since I’m no exact colour other than Indigo, which is collectively all of them, Alban gave me the codename ‘Ghost’. That, and for the other reason that I don’t actually exist. Thanks to Leda Corp, anyways.

Reading the briefing, me and Cole had to retrieve a piece of information meeting with another agent. The Op was assigned for a month’s time, and it was a week long. Surely this wouldn’t take a week? A knock at the door revealed Cole, holding up the same briefing that I was currently flicking through. The only difference was that he seemed sure of what was happening. 

“So we’re running an Op?” I asked.

“Not quite. I’m running an Op, and you’re coming.” He replied as he made himself comfortable on my bed. 

“Why do I need to come? This sounds like a snoozefest.” I reached down to smooth over the blanket where it had started to slip off the edge of the bed thanks to Cole’s unruliness. 

“Because,” he paused. “After we have the information, we have five days to train outside of the League HQ.”

“Seriously?”

“Seriously.”

“Where?”

“I know a place.”

“And Alban sanctioned this?” I raised my right eyebrow, something I was becoming very accustomed to doing during conversations with Cole. He nodded in response. “Do I get any more info about this other than ‘retrieving information’?”

As he checked his watch, Cole rose again. I honestly didn’t see the point in him having sat down in the first place, but I took his place on my bed, the patch still warm from where he had been sitting. 

“No, you don’t. Now I have to go. See you later, darlin’.”

And he left, with no further explanation. I was left on my bed, processing what had just happened. I was going on an Op, with Cole. The most boring Op on the planet, but still an Op nevertheless. 


	12. Part One: Chapter Eleven

The day of the Op was nearer than ever - tomorrow, to be exact. I had a bag, only a small rucksack with some essentials in. Cole had the same. The only reason I knew this is because he told me to pack one. It wasn’t too heavy, but it wasn’t light either and I struggled to shove the bulging bag under my bed for the next morning. In the end, I had to lift the bed with telekinesis and kick the bag underneath before putting the bed back down. I had my stitches out two days ago, and my hand was still slightly sore. It was getting to the stage where I wasn’t sure if I regretted it or not. On one hand, I showed us that the key to unlocking the red abilities was linked to my emotions. But on the other hand, it proved that they probably aren’t easily controlled. Then again, is it ever easy to control emotions and therefore abilities?

Even though we were about to train for a week, Cole had still insisted I meet him in our usual training room at the same time today. I walked the maze of corridors like I had been doing my entire life, finally used to everything here at the League. I said hi to Jude as I passed him and Nico playing with a remote-control car they’d built on my way there, careful not to step on it - or them. Vida was eating in the cafeteria and she threw me a muffin on my way through. I finished it as I reached the door, only slowing to chuck it in the bin as I spotted Cole through the tiny glass window. 

The only people at the League who knew about my abilities still continued to be limited to Alban, Cate and Cole. Somehow, I trusted them completely. Although every time I looked at Cole, I always noticed how much he looked like Liam and it made me feel a pang of guilt about not saying a proper goodbye to him, Zu and Chubs. I didn’t even explain why I had to leave. I think about them every day, and I constantly check the skip-tracer database to see if they’ve been spotted anywhere. For a while I tracked Lady Jane, to see if she was still on their trail. That worked for a while, but recently she went off the grid and no one heard of her since. I hope that’s a good sign, I really do.

I shed my hoodie as I walked into the training room, as humid as ever. It took a few seconds to put my dark hair in a messy bun, and Cole used that time to get rid of his jacket and get out his water bottle. A thought came to mind.

“Hey, Cole.”

“Yeah, darlin’?”

“We constantly focus on my abilities as a red, how come I’ve barely seen you use yours?”

“I don’t think I’ve got a decent answer for that.”

“Can you show me? Like can you make a fire, just this once?”

For a second it looked as if he was considering it, and sure enough, a little flame appeared in his hand. But before I could take in the sight, it was gone. But a faint smile played on his lips. 

“Now are we going to get started or not? I ain’t got all day.” He winked at me and pressed play on the small stereo we kept hidden in here. The room was soundproof, so it was the perfect excuse to use it as we trained. Cole got hold of it on an Op once and has found multiple excuses not to hand it in to Alban. 

I laughed at his cockiness. “You have a cute nose, Stewart. Don’t make me break it.” The words were out of my mouth before I even registered what I was saying. Did I just call him cute?

“Believe it or not, you’re not the first person to say that to me, you know.” His smile was growing bigger by the minute, and I took a step onto the mat with him.

“The first part or the second part?” Giving him a sideways glance, I tightened my shoelaces. 

“Both,” he let out an easy chuckle and it was my turn to grin.

He swung a fist at me and I ducked, moving effortlessly away from his attack. He tried again and I delivered a swift punch to his gut, temporarily winding him but not injuring or disabling him thanks to his fighting physique. Goddammit! Why am I thinking about his body? In all fairness, it’s not like he’s not fit. With abs for days… Seriously Aria, stop! When did I start doing this? When did I start noticing?

It’s not like he’s not fit, or cute. Because he  _ really _ is. But when did I start thinking of him as more than a friend? My subconscious mind was flooding me with thoughts, images, that I never realised I had even given time to until now. I was so distracted, I almost forgot to duck the fist that came flying towards me. Almost. 

“You’re a bit preoccupied today, Aria. Anything bothering you?”

I laughed at how perceptive he was. Or maybe he was just being nosy. Or maybe he really  _ did _ care? Thinking back to the mirror-hand-fire situation, I remembered everything I had said to him. And everything he  _ didn’t _ say to me. I’m overthinking. Actually, I might be underthinking? If that’s a thing, then I’m probably doing both at once. To cancel out my teenage-girl thoughts, I let the conversation replay in my head.  _ You don’t care about me, you’re here because you have to be _ . It calmed me down enough to continue to concentrate, and confidently redirect his question. Even though a single thought wrapped itself around my head like a vine, well that could’ve been a headache, but it didn’t stop me thinking.  _ But what if he  _ does _ care? _

~

We woke early, and Vida, Jude and Nico came with me to the exit to say goodbye. Even though it was about three in the morning, and we all agreeably looked like crap, it was a nice effort and I gave them each a reassuring squeeze before I met Cole. My first Op. I saw Cole, and I forced down all of the self-doubt and feelings I had been experiencing recently deep into the back of my mind. Putting on a half-fake half-real smile, we got in the car. 

I reached to turn on the radio, and Cole swatted my hand away. 

“Driver is always in control of the music. You want to choose music? You have to drive.”

I thought back to failing my League driving test almost as bad as Jude. Yeah, maybe my driving wasn’t the best idea. I didn’t want to let Cole know that, so I changed the subject.

“Now I see where Lee gets it from! He was  _ always _ like this when we were in Black Betty.”

“Black Betty?” His confused face made me laugh so much, I had to turn away to face the window. As I started to wind it down a little, the fresh air hit my face, a relief from being inside the stuffy League HQ for so long. The last time I felt this free  _ had _ been with Lee, Zu and Chubs. Even though it was selfish, I sometimes wondered if they missed me, if I had made anywhere near as much an impact in their lives as they had in mine. If it wasn’t for Lee, I’d be… I’d be… well, we all know where I’d be. 

The tidal wave of memories washed over me, and I didn’t even realise I had tears running down my face until I caught a glimpse of myself in the side mirror. Using my sleeve, I wiped my face and put on yet another brave smile. I was going to be fine. Something about today had gotten to me, but I wasn’t going to let it beat me. Everything was going to be okay. One day driving to get information, one day driving to wherever Cole wanted to go, five days training. 

This was going to be fun. 

~

We drove for hours before finally stopping at a dingy, dimly lit motel. It looked like the sort of place that no one had been to in years, it was that well kept. Cole checked his watch before throwing on his leather jacket. I did the same, copying his movements almost exactly. I was taking Vida’s advice:  _ Boo, don’t fuck this up. _

We walked around the side of the building, ever cautious. Cole first, me slightly behind. He knocked on the door to the room we were supposed to be meeting in. Three sharp knocks, then wait, then two spaced out. No answer. He tried again, this time waiting for a little longer after. Still no answer. Cole took a step back, motioned for me to move out the way, and planted a series of steady kicks into the door. It swung open, splintering and with an indent of where his foot had been moments earlier.

The room was empty.

Cole swore and kicked over the empty bin by the door. “Son of a bitch! He was supposed to meet us here!” He went over to the open bathroom window and leant out of it, trying to see where our contact had gone. No sooner had he left my side I heard a small thump behind me.

I barely had time to cry out to Cole before the blinding pain in the back of my head sent the world black. I was out before I hit the floor.


	13. Part One: Chapter Twelve

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is going to get your hopes up and I apologise in advance.

I woke up and staggered to my feet. The surrounding area resembled an old camping ground - the kind scouts used. The trees stretched upwards, giving the place an unearthly feel. A figure came up to me and put a steadying hand behind my back. I was getting dejá vu. Lee? No, I took in his features properly and it was definitely Cole.

“The intel?” 

“All in here, darlin’.” He patted his jacket pocket.

“And the agent?” 

Cole paused. “He wasn’t told that there would be two of us, so he prepared for the worst. But he’ll live. Now, you know how Alban is about schedules. I’m giving you an hour and then we’re starting training.”

“An hour? How do you know I haven’t got a concussion? For all I know, there could be eight trash cans over there instead of four!”

He ran his hands through his golden hair and sighed. “I’ll give you two hours, max. There’s only two.”

So I went back to the tent, and he started to set up for our latest training session.

~

“Right, we know you respond best to emotion, so I need you to take every piece of anger you’ve ever had and use it. Every annoying thought, every single damn thing. Let it fuel you.”

I looked around at the set-up. The clearing had been arranged with piles of flammable old materials from the junkyard not that far away. There was half an old sofa, a few piles of cushions, just generic things that he’d improvised with. The items surrounded us, they were separated into twelve separate piles at regular intervals. Clearly, Cole had put a lot of effort into this. 

“What’s all this?” I shrugged off my jacket and tied my hoodie around my waist before we started. It was a black and white NASA hoodie with ‘I need my space’ written on the back in comic, bold letters. The only downside was the fact that it had a few holes around one of the shoulders. Probably the main reason why it had been ditched. I didn’t care, it was comfy and it reminded me of Black Betty.

Cole did the same with his jacket and threw it outside the circle. “Right. Let me explain. I’ve been  _ dying _ to do this thing with you. I saw it in a movie once and… yeah.” He was so excited, it was actually cute. Cole was practically buzzing, and I’d never seen this side of him before. He shook his hair out of his face before continuing. “Where I’m standing? 12 o’clock. Behind you? Six. Left is nine, and the right is three. You get the gist?” I nodded. “Cool. I’m gonna call out a number, and that pile of stuff you need to set alight. I will always have my back to twelve, in case you get mixed up. This exercise should work on your concentration, precision, and ability to think under pressure. Act fast.”

I took a deep breath. This was easy enough when you thought about it but… could I really control this? Last time I wasn’t very… precise? With my actions? Another deep breath.  _ Come on Aria, you can do this.  _ I thought back to Cole, the time I finally got the ability to work in the way I wanted, sort of, instead of just affected my judgement.  _ I always knew you could do it _ . He said that then. Was it real? Shaking my head, I pushed the thought to the back of my mind. Concentrate. Concentrate. Concentrate. Come on.

“FIVE!” I had to turn around to make the pile of junk behind me on the right burst aflame. Do the next one without turning, do the next one without turning. “TEN!” The fire shot upwards, singing an overhanging tree branch, burning it to a crisp without even having time to set the leaves alight. “Good, good. TWO!” He was relentless, I was thinking faster than I ever thought possible and I felt like my mind needed to breath more than my lungs. Being trapped inside an (albeit incomplete) ring of fire led my mind back to the day at Leda Corp. The day that saved and simultaneously ended my life. Without it, I wouldn’t have met Lee. But I also wouldn’t be slowly dying faster than everyone else is  _ naturally _ slowly dying. I harsh cough caught me by surprise and rattled through my chest. I let it out and continued to concentrate. 

“SIX! ONE!” Two at a time? Seriously? The sofa Cole was facing caught the flames, and slowly started to burn away from one side. The cushions on his left gave him no warning as they succumbed to my fiery abilities. He took a cautious step to the right, closer to ‘ten’, but away from the heat that was taking over ‘one’. I stifled a laugh. Seven more to go. My hair had come undone from the loose band that had been holding it in and I tried to shake it out my face. I couldn’t see properly.

“Ignore it,” Cole whispered. I was surprised by how close he had gotten to me without me having realised. 

“Shh.” I shot back. “I’m concentrating.” He laughed back and said something else. Murmured, under his breath. “I didn’t quite catch that,” I spun around 360, taking in the damage so far. As I put my foot back down, I saw Cole show me nine fingers. ‘Nine’ was the next to set ablaze. We continued like this three more times, for ‘four’, ‘eleven’ and ‘eight’.

“Close your eyes.” The last thing I saw was his face as he winked at me. “Five.”

“Hey! That’s cheating, we’ve already done five!” I flipped him the finger in response, a cheeky grin escaping my lips.

“We’ve already done one too, so I don’t know what you mean by that.”

“Touche.” I didn’t need my eyes open to know he was grinning like a Cheshire cat.

“Three.” I heard a step, a step closer? I felt his breath, hot, close to me. “That session, last time…” he faltered a little, somehow wary of what he was about to say. “You asked me why I was doing this, all of this.” He didn’t wait for me to say anything in reply, to interrupt or even nod. “I was too chickenshit to say it then, but I’m going to tell you now.” I giggled at the fact that he had just called himself  _ chickenshit _ . “I was never doing this because Alban forced me. I was doing this because for once in my life I had found someone who understood what I was going through, even if it was just for a part of the time. From then on, you were  _ my _ responsibility, and I couldn’t let anything happen to you.”

“I can take care of myself, you know.” 

He laughed. “Says the girl who once buried her fist in a wall.”

I knew his lips were just inches from mine. Was he thinking the same thing I was? I took a chance, I whispered something. A number.

“Twelve.” The ring of fire was complete. His hand was on my face. He stroked it, brushing a wisp of hair out of my eyes. It stayed there a moment, then two, then three, then—

His lips caught mine. Hard. The sheer force knocked the breath from my lungs but in the best way possible. Cole’s skin was hot to touch but so was mine - comes with the territory. We stood in the now-complete ring of fire, and I ran my hands through his hair as he pulled me closer. I could see the outline of flames everywhere around us from behind my closed lids, but I didn’t care and neither did Cole. My entire focus was on him. The fire raged around us and we did nothing. It caught at our clothes, trying to tear us apart but we were stronger. It was like nothing I’d ever experienced before. 

I barely felt the rain as it poured down, dousing the flames almost instantly. Each droplet evaporated within seconds of reaching my boiling skin. It belted down, should’ve soaked us instantly but we never felt it, not really.

For once in my life, I felt as if things we going to be okay.


	14. Part One: Chapter Thirteen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You're going to hate me for this. Sorry. Not Sorry. It does get better... I think.
> 
> Don't hate me.

I woke up next to him in the cramped little tent, twisting my fingers in his soft hair. I could get used to this. I had nothing against waking up like this for the rest of my life. 

Yet...

Cole has the rest of his life ahead. I didn’t. No matter how much I wanted it to,  _ this couldn’t happen again _ . 

A tear rolled down my cheek, then another, and soon they were falling like crazy. I liked him. I really liked him. I hadn’t even noticed that he had woken up, but his hands cupped my face as I cried.

“Hey, what’s wrong?” He whispered, and I felt his breath inches from my tearstained face. 

“N-nothing. Nothing. I’m fine.”

“No, you’re not. Aria you’re  _ crying _ . You’re not okay.” 

I stood up, climbing out of the tent and I regretted my next words even before they left my mouth, but it was necessary. “This was a mistake.”

He left with me, almost tripping over one of the tent pegs in a move so ‘smooth’ it could have easily rivalled Liam. Normally, I would’ve commented on something like that but today I just wasn’t in the mood. Last night was as fresh in my mind as the tears on my cheeks. It would have to stay that way. 

“Aria, wait. Why are you doing this? I thought you… I thought… I…” He didn’t know what to do, he didn’t know what to say. Cole’s hands went from running themselves through his hair to his pockets to rubbing his shoulders defensively. Looking up at the sky, the fresh smell of rain lingered from the previous night. 

Cole kicked the pegs out from around the tent, collapsing it. I threw my stuff in my bag. He had already let Alban know that we’d be coming back early. No questions asked. Neither of us said a word. I hated it. I hated the silence. I hated myself for letting it get this far. This was all my fault. Cole didn’t deserve this. I didn’t deserve someone like him. I didn’t deserve anything. 

~

We had had a moment, and it was gone. No more whatever it was between us. Like a crumpled piece of paper, never completely flat again. Whatever we had was broken. Like my heart, it had been shattered into a million tiny pieces. I took a quick glance at Cole. His hair was covering his eyes and they were red raw. I felt bad. Not bad, I felt terrible. But I didn’t deserve to drag him down with me in the deep hole I was always close to. He would recover from the hurt and humiliation of this morning, but I didn’t think he would be able to be okay after I was gone if we had continued. My heart ached for him, to tell him the reason why... But it was over, for good.

We sat in silence on the way back. No music, no talking, just silence. The only thing I could hear over the rumble of the old engine was Cole’s breathing. I let the sound lead me into a restless sleep. 

~

Arriving back was a surprise, we’d been expected a few days later and when Cole left to see Alban without so much as a quick glance goodbye I was left to face the others alone. It was only then as he disappeared down the corridor did I realise the gravity of what I had done. Breathe. In and out. In and out. I took a left down the hallway, then a right, then retraced my steps back and took a second left. The shared bedroom where a load of the girls slept was empty. It was honestly surprising that I hadn’t run into Jude-the-one-man-welcoming-committee yet. He was probably with Nico in the lab working on their remote-controlled car again. I sighed. It felt good to be alone, and yet… I could still feel the heat of last night. 

“Thinking about it will only make it worse,” I muttered under my breath. Breathe. In. Out.

“Make what worse?” 

The sound of Vida’s voice made me jump, but I tried to hide it as she slid down on the bed next to me. I contemplated telling her, but knowing Vida her opinion would be helpful yet very, very loud and with a lot of swearing. My head was already pounding, could I really handle that today? As I opened my mouth, I spotted Martin hovering outside the door. Ew. I was  _ not _ dealing with him today. My hand brushed against Vida’s as I raised it to slam the door in his face. It felt good to be blue again. Now I wasn’t red, I found it easier to push thoughts of Cole to the back of my mind. 

“You can tell me, there’s a  _ slight _ chance I’ll laugh. But if it makes you feel any better it’s a really  _ really _ small chance?” She suggested, trying to cheer me up.

“What I really need is a distraction. Got anything in mind?” 

“Boo, you came to the right place.” Vi grabbed my hand and lead me out of the room. 

~

An hour and a bit later, we were standing in front of the mirror in the bathroom. Pieces of my hair lay on the floor by my feet. My once long dark hair that fell completely straight (unless wet - then it was a frizzy untameable mess) had been transformed into a mid-length auburn cut that framed my face and brought out my eyes. I marvelled at the new look. Vida hadn’t changed her hair except re-dyed it a slightly darker blue. I didn’t know what to say.

“Holy shit, Vi. You should do this for a living.” I reached up to touch it, my split ends had been cut off and it felt almost soft. 

She threw her head back in a short laugh, “You’re just lucky I’m not charging.”

After clearing up the mess we’d made, Vi and I made our way to the cafeteria. At the door, I froze. Cole was chatting to some of the other people in his old Op team. Breathe. Breathe. It hitched in my throat. Vida caught my arm, holding me back through the door. 

“We don’t have to if you don’t want to. I won’t ask why, but is it to do with Cole?” I opened my mouth to ask how she knew, but I was cut off. “I saw him earlier, he looked… messed up. I knew you guys weren’t due back yet so that was when I came to find you.”

I sighed and leant against her. “Vi, you don’t know the  _ half _ of it.” The cafeteria was forgotten and we took the long way around to get to the gym instead. I pretended not to notice Cole glancing at me out of the corner of his eye as he walked away. I didn’t let him see me wipe the small single tear from my eye. 


	15. Part One: Chapter Fourteen

I hadn’t had a training session with Cole in three weeks. In that month, I had barely said two words to him, not even in the debriefing. He seemed to like it that way. I did not. I  _ missed _ him, and I couldn’t do anything about it. Not just our relationship but our  _ friendship _ had changed and I missed sharing jokes with him during our training sessions, the banter, the plain old messing about. I missed  _ him _ , most of all. The closest we’d come to talking was sharing a quick, private glance when Alban asked Cole why the contact was so angry when he’d spoken to him on the phone, and he had to explain - with a straight face - how the agent meeting us had knocked me unconscious and Cole had almost ‘accidentally’ killed him for it.

It was time for another meeting with Alban about Cole and my training schedule. We were waiting outside his office and had been for some time now. I studied Cole, how he’d changed - without him noticing of course. He’d buzzed his hair down short, and it no longer fell in his face when he bent down. Probably a good thing for concentration but I kind of missed his old hair. I touched my still-auburn hair consciously, and he noticed. As Alban’s door swung open, I heard him whisper, “You’re not the only one who can change up their look.” I pulled a few strands of hair back from my face and tied them out the way. It took all my strength to pretend I hadn’t heard. 

Alban stood leaning on his desk, staring at us like he wasn’t sure what to make of the situation. “So, how’s training going?” He knew. He knew I knew he knew. Cole made to run his hands through his hair and stopped, letting them hang by his sides, one tapping his leg.

“It’s going great… yeah, she’s really improving.” He patted me on the back, lightly but stiffly as Alban raised an eyebrow.

“Stop lying to me, please. I know neither of you has set foot in the training room at the same time since you arrived back. I’m here to discuss how that’s going to change once Agent Stewart returns from his latest Op.”

I froze, and so did Cole. We both started - “He’s going on an Op?” “I’m going on an Op?”

Alban nodded. “A few months long, to give you time to sort out whatever it is that is going on between you two. When you get back, I expect training to resume as normal.” He handed Cole a black folder. I leant to the side slightly to try and get a look but Cole moved it ever-so-slightly out of my eye-line. Nice. “Ghost, you are dismissed.”

“But-”

“Dismissed.”

~

Cole’s closest friends were there to see him off for the Op, only because it was a long one. Usually, they wave goodbye the day before and give a brief thumbs up when someone arrives back. This time was different. I could tell by the way the tension hung in the air, choking you like when someone in the same room as you uses too much deodorant and leaves you struggling for breath. I had no idea why, but the change in atmosphere chilled me down to my core. 

I hovered just outside the door, unsure of what to do. What would I say to him? It was easy to hear the muffled goodbyes through the door. Even Cate came to wish him well. Shit, this must be a  _ long _ mission. Whoever was left - the stragglers - of the well-wishing party were slowly leaving and I leant next to the door. Breathe. Breathe. BREATHE! I could do this. I could do this. I just needed to-

“Oh, hi.” As he came through the door and noticed me leaning next to it, I almost tripped over my own foot. Real smooth. Cole sort of decided to stick his arm out to steady me but he was still hesitant. Either way, I took it gratefully and smoothed down my jacket where it had caught slightly on the wall as I slipped.

“Thanks.” I tried a friendly smile at him.

“Anytime,” he shrugged back.

“So…” We stood there in an uncomfortable silence that seemed to stretch on for far longer than it needed to. I’d had enough. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have-”

He cut me off, smiling - finally. “It’s okay. I just-”

“It would’ve been better if…”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah…”

I shifted from foot to foot, and it wasn’t just me that didn’t know what to do next - Cole was tapping the two fingers on his right hand against his leg. I still haven’t figured out if that’s something he does in general, or just when he’s nervous or anxious. Unless he just does it more when he’s nervous or anxious - which is definitely something I’d noticed. He finally made the decision to take a step closer and wrap his arms around me comfortingly. I breathed a sigh of relief and leant into him. Everything would be fine. 

“I really miss training,” I whispered into his chest. “Oh, and please don’t die.”

He chuckled, “Relax, darlin.’ It’s only a few months. I’ll be back before you know it. And we can pick up right where we left off with training. I promise.”

I broke away at the words ‘right where we left off’ and sighed.

Cole started to walk away, and paused to turn back - as if he was about to say something, but thought better of it. I filled the space by giving him a mock salute before heading back inside. 

Once again I thought to myself,  _ this was going to be a looooong Op _ .


	16. Part One: Chapter Fifteen

Two months and counting. One day, I was bored as hell, waiting for Cole to return so I could resume training. Vida had signed up for extra kickboxing classes to fill time - she invited me, but I politely declined. In reality, I was too busy twiddling my thumbs to be bothered. I couldn’t practice pyrokinesis without Cole’s abilities to fuel my own. Being a blue was easy, all it took was concentration and a strong will. I wanted to master being a yellow, but that would involve telling a yellow about my abilities - it was a struggle to make the decision about telling Jude. It was all fun and games, dazzling the greens with my chess ‘skills’, but that too got a bit tedious after a while. 

Jude and Nico showed me their finished remote control car with their other friend, whose name might have been Blake? I really couldn’t remember, which was a shame considering he seemed like a nice kid. In the end, I went down to the gym and beat the punching bag until my fists bled. It made me feel slightly better, even though I wasn’t even sure why.

It was an average day, pretty much the same as almost every day with Cole gone. The only difference was that I practically got run over by Cate on my way to the cafeteria. She had Martin and Rob with her and barely glanced my way before colliding with me, the contents of the folder she had tucked under one arm spilling everywhere. I bent down and scooped up a section of it and a picture caught my eye with a name underneath.  _ Ruby Daly _ . I knew that name. Why did I know that name? Then it hit me. That was the girl who left with Liam. 

I had to follow them.

“I’m coming with you, Cate.” I grabbed her arm, stopping her from leaving me.

“Aria, I’m afraid that’s not an option. This information is classified.”

“Tough shit, I’m coming. Where are you going?”

“Ruby’s made contact. I have to go.”

I pushed past Martin to get to her. “Cate! Please.” I don’t know if it was the subconscious use of his power or just the fear in my eyes that made her decision. 

“Don’t do anything stupid.” We all but ran to the car. 

My chest was so tight I couldn’t breathe. Lee. Chubs. Zu. God, were they even still with her? Did they make it to East River? My breaths came out all raspy. No. I’m not dying. Not yet. I have to make sure they’re okay. I grabbed hold of the bar on the inside of the car - the one that people hang things on - and rolled down the window slightly. The fresh air was relaxing and I managed to calm down a little but my heart was racing like 100mph. To be fair, that could’ve been explained by loss of oxygen or something, but at this moment it was far more likely to be nerves than actual dying (this time).

~

We pulled up and I leant against the side of the car for support. Ruby was crying, bloodstained and… Lee had blood all over his shirt. I cried out as I saw what had happened. I saw Chubs’ limp body, I saw them sedate Ruby and Lee. They were put in separate cars and I watched the ambulance pull up and wheel him in on a stretcher. Even though I probably shouldn’t have, I ran to Chubs before the doors closed. His eyes were glazed over slightly, unfocused but he was barking orders to the paramedics about what angle they should keep his head at in respect to the rest of his body and how much pressure they needed to apply to the wound.

I paled as I leant against the ambulance door. Seeing him like that… all reasoning went from my mind, all logic, all sense of morals but I somehow stayed upright.

“Holy shit Chubs, someone fucking SHOT YOU!”

Somehow, he let out a short quiet laugh. “Yeah, Captain Obvious. No shit.”

“Where’s Zu?” I was almost whispering.

“She’s okay. Don’t worry.” Relief washed through me, one less person to worry about, even just slightly less. I wanted to tell him it would be okay. I wanted to tell him it would all work out, but the truth is? I didn’t know. I wanted to, but I didn’t. And there was no way of knowing. Cate was calling out my name, telling me to get my ass back to the car so we could drive to the nearest safe house. I looked at Chubs one last time before grabbing his hand and placing it over my heart. 

“I’ll be back for you. I promise. I will find you. I swear my LIFE on it, you hear me? My life!”

I let go of him and took a step back. About to leave, I heard him whisper something. I knew exactly what it was.  _ “But Aria, how long is that?” _

His words echoed in my mind on repeat on the drive to the safe house.

_ But Aria, how long is that? _


	17. Part One: Chapter Sixteen

At the safe house, I was freaking out - to put it lightly. Cate was sipping tea casually, waiting for Ruby to wake up, Lee was still unconscious in a separate room - a complete mess - he would still be out for ages.

“Have you heard from Cole?” I asked Cate. How could she be so calm?!

“No, not yet.” She checked the monitors again. 

“Have you tried again?”

“He’s in deep cover, just give him time Aria.”

I threw my cup at the wall, watching it smash. “Time? Time is something we don’t currently have.”

She didn’t seem to know what I meant by that, but it was clear that her inner social worker had picked up on the fact that I wasn’t very calm. 

“Listen, calm down. I don’t even understand why you’re so stressed.”

“ _ Why I’m so stressed? _ I’m ‘stressed’ because one of my friends was drugged, by you - I’d like to add, and the other was fucking SHOT!” Cate put a reassuring hand on my shoulder, at least it was meant to be reassuring, but it just made me want to move even more. “Can I please see him?”

She sighed and put her mug down. “I already told you, I have no idea where they took Charles.”

“Not Charles. Liam.”

I was given less than ten minutes with him.

~

I sat next to him on the bed like he had done for me months earlier in that crappy motel not long after we had first met. Except last time was different.  _ I  _ was different. And from the looks of it so was Lee. I ran my hand over his bruises, they were pretty recent. He had a cut over his eyebrow and Chubs’ blood was matted in his hair and his clothes. He used to like to run his hands through his hair when he was stressed, clearly, the current events had made him stressed. I couldn’t blame him for that.

“Lee? I know you probably can’t hear me, and won’t remember this but I want you to know something.” I took a deep breath. “I’ve got a lot to catch you up on and very little time. For starters, I met your brother, Cole. He’s nice - despite what you said. But he is a bit of an asshole, that much is true. I’ve made a few friends, you’d like Vida… just don’t get on her bad side or she’ll give you a terrible but accurate nickname that you’ll never lose.”

I talked, I talked. Then he started to stir slightly. It was time to go. 

“I’m sorry Lee, I have to go. I’ll see you again, and then we can have an actual conversation. I’ve missed you. It’ll be okay. I promise.” And then I left. If I had turned back, even once, I might have noticed that he watched me leave, a distinct look of confusion mixed with recognition on his face.

~

I sat in the living room of the safe house, my hands shaking so much I could barely eat or drink. Liam, about to have his life taken away by the league. Liam, who could never be a killer, moulded into something he isn’t. Chubs, oh my god poor Chubs. Chubs, lying injured in a hospital bed somewhere. Chubs, he could be  _ dead _ . The thought made me want to throw up, so I did. Just in time, I stumbled into one of the bathrooms to dry heave before sliding down the tiled wall. I was processing what I had just witnessed yet at the same time… I wasn’t.

Ruby was awake. She was talking to Cate in the bedroom. I didn’t know how to feel about her, but at least maybe if it hadn’t been too traumatising I could ask her how Chubs got… injured. No. Now wasn’t the right time. For either of us. Breathe. Breathe. 

Martin waltzed into the room with a grin on his face. It grew even wider the moment he saw me, he put a hand on my back and it slowly moved downwards. I grabbed it before it could go any further. “Not today, not tomorrow, not  _ ever _ . You get that perv?” He shrugged away my hand and stood up to leave, muttering something about me being an ‘ungrateful bitch’ on his way into the other room. I sighed,  _ asshole _ . 

Ruby left the bedroom and took a few unsteady steps to Liam’s room. I felt for her. God, if she’d been with him all this time I can’t imagine how she would be feeling not knowing if he was okay or not. I raised my hand towards her in a wave or recognition but she only brushed past me. Orange. I picked up on it instantly - I had almost forgotten what Cate had said on the way here.  _ “Don’t touch her.” _

~

My head was in my hands as I waited. Cate had filled me in, but only slightly. Ruby had made a deal with the League that she would stay with us. If, and only if, they let Liam go. The question was,  _ why would Lee agree to leave? _ If he looked at her the way she looked at his door before going in, there’s no way he would leave here - not if it meant leaving Ruby. He never does anything by half, if Lee feels anything for Ruby it’s with his whole heart. And well, it’s  _ Liam _ . 

It hadn’t been that long, and it was easy for me to tell that Cate was itching to go in. She looked at me, and I shook my head in silence. Let them be. Soon, Ruby opened the door. Her face was pale, and her eyes red like she’d been crying. I knew that she probably had been. I could barely make out the words they said, even though the door was open. I thought I heard “accident” and “Cole” but it could’ve been anything.

As they moved closer to the door, I could hear the conversation more clearly. I watched the scene unfold. Ruby pressed an envelope into Liam’s hand. “You’d better get going.”

He turned around, a grim look on his face. “I’m not going to thank you. I didn’t ask for your help.”

Cate led him out into the hall. “You didn’t have to, and you never need to.”

He started down the stairs, I slid behind the kitchen counter, unable to steady myself. If he didn’t already know I was here, then I couldn’t see him. “Hey—” Ruby called out to him— “Be careful.”

I heard him stop, his feet pausing from padding down the wooden stairs. “You too, darlin’.”

When the door shut behind him, I slowly emerged from my hiding place behind the counter. Cate came up behind Ruby, stroking a hand through her hair. “You’ll be happy with us. I’ll take care of you.” Ruby drew the curtains shut, her fingers sliding over their silky surface. 

She looked up at Cate, conflicted. Finally, she turned away from the window, and she didn’t look back.

Only then did she see me.  _ Really _ see me. Her mouth formed an ‘o’ shape as her eyes took me in.

“You. I recognise you.”


	18. Part Two: Chapter One

The cafeteria fell quiet when she walked in for the first time. The empty table met Ruby with open arms and she slouched into a chair wordlessly. Jude gave me a knowing look, and we dragged Vida with us to sit with her. In silence. This happened at least three times a week. Everyone at HQ was scared of her except for us - word of what she did to Martin got around pretty fast. I admired her for that. The only person other than me who never flinched when she was nearby was Jude. Jude was the one who convinced us to make an effort with her. I didn’t need convincing but Vida did, even though she didn’t need  _ much _ convincing. Just enough to make it seem like she didn’t care at first. Ruby hadn’t said anything to me since the safe house. Nothing important, and nothing interesting. I kept meaning to talk to her, but she didn’t seem to want to be anywhere near me. God knows why. 

I continued to check the skip tracer database regularly in case anyone put anything up about sightings for Liam, Chubs or Zu. Although checking back, I wasn’t the only one searching the system for those names. Ruby didn’t talk about them when she did rarely talk, but she was the only other person to have any reason for checking up on them. At least she still cared. After what she did to Martin, it was easy to figure out what must’ve happened with Liam. I felt really bad for her, it was clear Ruby needed someone in her corner but there was nothing I could do. I wasn’t even allowed on official Op training until Cole got back. 

_ Cole _ . It had been three or so months since he’d left. His extraction date was in a few weeks time and I was struggling to wait until he got back. It had been too long since we’d trained together and I was looking forward to it so much you’d think it was Christmas! Being a blue is an amazing feeling, knowing that you can do something that would normally take multiple people is exhilarating. But it’s nothing compared to being a red, it’s a feeling like no other. I missed that almost as much as I missed Cole. Having still not heard from him, it annoyed me at his lack of urgency. If he didn’t return my emails, how could he know about what had happened with Lee?

~

It had been a few months since Ruby had arrived, and only two days until Cole’s extraction date. I was hanging around with Vida, Jude, Ruby and Nico when one of the guys a few years older - I think his name was Bradley or something - had gotten a hold of a stereo and was singing very bad karaoke along to it. Vida rolled her eyes at him, chucking Nico’s half-finished yoghurt pot at him and missing. 

“You know, I wasn’t actually finished with that,” he muttered under his breath as he got up to put it in the bin, not loud enough for Vi to actually hear though. 

Bradley burst into an ear-splittingly bad version of  _ Wouldn’t It Be Nice _ by The Beach Boys. We were all thinking about shutting him up when Ruby’s chair was pushed back abruptly, the screech cutting him off with only the music playing in the background. She gave Bradley such a glare from her red-rimmed green eyes they showed a vibrant orange tinge as he promptly pissed himself in the middle of the cafeteria. Everyone turned around and stared at them, the rest of my table included, before Ruby stormed out. To defuse the situation, Vida began slow clapping. Jude was about to stand up to follow her, calling out “Roo!” but I put my hand out, forcing him back into his seat as I shook my head. He looked towards the door she left through, and I noticed that it was still swinging from her unceremonious exit. Sighing, I picked up the rest of my food and dumped it in the trash can as I followed her out. 

Ruby wasn’t hard to locate. She’d already gotten herself lost in the maze of corridors that was the League HQ. I found her sitting with her back to a wall next to the fire exit, directly underneath a framed photo of Alban. Tears made tracks down her face, no matter how hard she tried to cover them up as I came and sat next to her. “Please leave.” There was no emotion in her voice, but it was all shown in her eyes. “Please.”

“I would, but I don’t think Lee would think too kindly of me for it.” I reached out, not hesitating as I put my arm around her. She was shaking from sobbing so violently, but my words caught her attention.

“Liam?” Ruby sat bolt upright. Well, as bolt upright as she could, huddled against the wall with my arm around her. 

“Yeah. He and I go  _ way _ back.”

“You do?”

“Sort of, yeah. I don’t know if you remember, but I was at the safe house?” Recognition flashed across her face.

“Yeah. But I recognised you. From before that.”

“It’s a long story…” I trailed off, but her hopeful face caused me to sigh and get ready to tell it. 

“Please explain, listening to you might help me get Liam’s singing out of my head.” She laughed a little and leant into me.

“Well, I’m going to have to start at the beginning for this to make sense.”

Ruby nodded, and I began. 


	19. Part Two: Chapter Two

The day was finally here. Cole was finally coming back today. I breathed a sigh of relief that the time of waiting was finally over. Not being able to train properly meant that I had no real way to de-stress, and not being able to de-stress meant that my 24/7 headache was twice as bad without the distraction. 

I waltzed into the cafeteria, I’ll admit - a  _ slight _ spring in my step. But it’s not like I didn’t have a reason to be happy. The room was buzzing almost as much as I was, I caught snippets of conversation, bits and pieces thrown around the room - not enough to piece it together. “Captured”, “last minute”, “unexpected”, “prisoner”, “lost contact”. It wasn’t unusual to have someone not come back from a mission, and usually when that happened - I know this is going to sound really shitty by the way - we just moved on with our lives. It would be a security risk to go after them, so we treat them as dead and usually they don’t reappear. 

It was only when it got to five did I start to worry, did I start to finally piece it together. Cole was due back at 13:00. It was past 17:30, and no sign of him. I started pacing the corridors, this is not good. This is  _ not _ good. I bumped into Vida, and she noticed how stressed I was.

“What’s up, boo?” She put a hand on my shoulder. “Has something happened?”

I sighed, “It’s probably nothing, I’m just worried about Cole. He was due back over four hours ago.”

She paled and ran a hand through her hair. “Shit, boo. I thought you knew...”

I took a step back to lean against the wall for support. “Vi, thought I knew what?”

Vida took a deep breath refusing to look me in the eye. “Golden-boy Stewart isn’t coming back.”

~

I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t know where to go. I pushed my way past Vida and ran in no particular direction, my breath hitching in my throat. She was shouting my name down the corridor, but I didn’t stop.  _ Isn’t coming back. Isn’t coming back. Stewart isn’t coming back. _

Somehow, maybe it was intentional, maybe not, but I found myself outside Alban’s office. I could hear half a shouting match going on and it wasn’t hard to figure out what it was about. Without a second thought, I knocked on the door. No answer, but the argument stopped. Impatient as hell, I knocked again. This time I heard a muffled, “John this is a private conversation—” interrupted by “It’s open.” He’d barely finished the word ‘open’ before the door clanged against the wall. Loudly. 

“Ah... I was wondering when you’d be paying me a visit, Aria.” Alban gestured to the empty fold-out chair opposite his desk. I politely declined by pacing back and forth across the room, ignoring whoever else was in there. Either way, that person wasn’t happy to see me. 

“You run this place like a school Alban. You let them barge in here and make a scene, like  _ that _ on a regular basis? These are trained  _ soldiers _ , it’s about time you treated them like it!” Ah, so the other person was Rob. Nice to know him and Alban are on first-name-privileges then. Rob stormed out and let the door bang shut behind him, although it didn’t have as much an impact as he’d hoped in comparison to my grand entrance moments earlier. 

“Tell me it’s not true—” I finally sat down— “the rumours… Cole…”

He sighed and started organising papers on his desk while talking to me. “I’m afraid so, Aria. But we have to stick to protocol.”

Angry, I stood up - the scraping sound of my chair against the floor causing us both to wince. “FUCK THE PROTOCOL!” Just as Ruby appeared in the doorway.

“I can come back later Sir?” She slowly started to back out of the room. Honestly, I hadn't even noticed the door opening. Then again, I had been making  _ quite _ a bit of noise. Alban nodded and once again we were alone. For the second time, he raised an eyebrow at me and his eyes drifted to the chair I’d accidentally knocked over. Picking it back up, I sighed.

“I understand how this matter is… close to you. It’s close to me too. But you have to understand—” I cut him off, tired of his reasoning and his pleasantries.

“No, you have to understand. You  _ know _ how much of an asset he is, all personal things aside. If there’s anyone here you’d break protocol for here, it’s him. He can go undetected because of his age, and the fact that he’s…” I struggled for the right words. It’s not often that people get caught eavesdropping here, but I wouldn’t rule it out. I, for one, had done it multiple times. As I looked around the room, pausing at the door, I lowered my voice. “Gifted.”

“I do know of the current situation, but that doesn’t mean we can break the protocol and endanger everyone here.”

“Bullshit!” I slammed my fist down on his desk, ignoring the small dent I had made. Calming down slightly, I made a different approach. “I call bullshit. Because I know you’ve already made your decision.” As I turned towards the door, I stopped to tuck in my chair. Using it as an excuse to glance at the papers on his desk. “And I know it’s the right one.”

Alban smiled - the kind of smile that doesn’t give anything away, the kind that politicians use - as he cautiously moved the pile of papers to cover the small indent in his desk. “I thoroughly enjoy our little chats Aria. Please refrain from breaking the door on your way out.”


	20. Part Two: Chapter Three

They waited for months. Three fucking months to tell me, to be exact. Alban has sent a team to retrieve “Prisoner 27” as he is now known as, for Ruby’s sake. There’s a team run by Rob, of all people, to locate and extract him. There’s also a training team going too - Vida and Ruby are a part of it. That’s why he’s Prisoner 27. Ruby needs Op experience, and if she knew who she was helping to rescue - or how much he looked like Lee - ‘her judgement might be impaired’ as Alban so gently put it. 

I wasn’t allowed to help for two reasons. One, Ruby and Vida needed the experience, and they didn’t need me ‘tagging along’. Two, I’m apparently ‘too close to this’ operation. Due to my close relationship with Prisoner 27. I inwardly rolled my eyes at the comment. As Ruby and Vida didn’t know the identity of Prisoner 27, and I was unable to tell them, I was stuck playing Cheat with Jude and Nico. Nico, being a green, was counting the cards and knew instantly when either of us were cheating. Jude got too excited every time he  _ thought _ he’d gotten away with it, and got this massive shit-eating grin on his face. And I was too distracted to pay attention, and spent half the time accidentally cheating and being called out on it. 

“CHEAT!” Jude called out triumphantly, one hand pushing the pile of cards in the middle towards me and the other fiddling with the compass around his neck. I had somehow ended up holding half the pack, with Nico on three cards and Jude on four. I was just about to try and put down four kings when Jude’s chatter buzzed - a message from Cate. They were back. The game was forgotten, the cards left strewn across the table haphazardly as we ran down the corridor to meet them. Even though I was more fit, Jude's excitement made him a-mile-a-minute and he spotted them moments before I did, careering into Ruby with such force they both almost fell over. It became an awkward group hug when Jude grabbed Vida and pulled her into it against her will, the three of them squished together against the wall.

I tried to spot Cole with the group coming back, but as my eyes scanned the crowded hallway he was nowhere in sight. Vida saw me hovering, unsure and called out one word. “Infirmary.”

Have you ever heard the phrase ‘hit the ground running’? Well, that’s what I did as I made my way down the stairs. Not caring if I was being rude, I pushed and shoved my way through the endless corridors, ignoring the slightly less-than-pleased shouts of the people around me. By the time I reached the all too familiar area housing the medical supplies, I was close to passing out. Still, I didn’t stop moving. Clutching the walls for support, I made my way through the final stretch. 

The windows stretched tall and wide, giving me a clear view of the Infirmary. The curtains were drawn in almost all of the rooms, so I went to the more easily accessible rooms first. The first was empty, the second… yeah, we won’t talk about the second. The third was dark, the fourth was empty. At the end of the corridor, I stopped, looking back towards the third room. It wasn’t completely dark - not like I thought at first. There was a figure dressed in - from what I could gather - baggy clothes, with buzzed hair and bandaged hands facing slightly away from me in one corner of the dimly lit room. My hand was on the doorknob when I hesitated. Watching, waiting. Breathe.  _ Be brave, you can do this.  _

As I drew the door shut behind me, the figure ran a bandaged hand through his buzzed hair. At that moment I knew, but scared as ever, I had to make sure.

“Cole?” My voice came out like a whisper, but he heard, and that was all I needed. Taking a step forward was easy, not collapsing at the sight of him was the hardest part. Rob’s team had done their best in patching up the deepest cuts on his face and arms, but there were bruises and grazes that had been left untouched. I ran my hand over them gently, before giving in and throwing my arms around his neck sobbing. 

“You didn’t think you’d get rid of me that easily, huh darlin’?” His chin was resting on the top of my head as tears ran down my face making tracks on his sweater.

Between sobs, I clutched him harder, oblivious to the fact that it might not be the wisest thing to do. “You asshole! You could’ve died! I specifically told you not to do that!”

His soft laughter calmed me down a bit, and I sat with him - unaware that I was pretty much on his lap - listening to the vibrations of his luckily still-beating heart.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I enjoyed this.


	21. Part Two: Chapter Four

“You missed a shitload of stuff while you were gone, I tried calling, I tried emailing, I would’ve sent a goddamn carrier pigeon if they even still existed!” I thumped him in the arm and he winced. “Sorry,” I muttered apologetically, “force of habit.”

“What did I miss then? I trust you’ll tell me all about it?” Cole leaned in closer, intrigued. 

“I can’t believe no one told you…” I continued, trying to build up to the fact I had to tell him about Lee.

“Told me what?” 

“About Liam,” I paused - his face wasn’t as shocked as I expected it to be.

“Ah, I’ve heard part of the story, but it didn’t seem to make any sense.” He rubbed his face with a bandaged hand, deep in thought.

“What? Who told you?” This time it was my turn to be surprised, my eyebrows shot up as I realised he already knew.

“Lee, actually.”

I practically choked, “You’ve seen him?” 

“I’ve more than seen him,” Cole deadpanned, “he’s the reason I got caught.”

~

After filling Cole in from what I knew of what had happened, he told me what Liam had told him. How he was days away from being extracted when someone spotted Lee and called him in for aiding a fugitive. I told him about the safe house in return, and when it was time for him to leave for the debrief I paced the hallways again like I had not too many months earlier after finding out that he might not be coming back. It was hard to get through the crowd, rumour has it that Blake Howard got sent out on an Op and came back in a body bag. Jude and Nico were devastated, but more than that, panicked.

In the end, I decided to wait for Cole. Somehow, he had disappeared. At least this time I wasn’t too worried. It wasn’t long before I decided to take a shower to take my mind off of things. Walking in, I heard two voices. Two voices I recognised.

_ Cole and Ruby. _

A flash of jealousy sparked inside me but I buried it. All things considered, listening in probably wasn’t the greatest move, but curiosity got the better of me.

“The most important—” Ruby sounded outraged— “Liam’s life is more important than that stupid flash drive!”

“My, my.” Cole was playing her, “Little brother must be a good kisser.” If she didn’t slap him, then I would. He had  _ no _ right - not after everything Ruby had been through.

“Go to hell,” I heard shuffling as Ruby made to leave.

I thought about getting out of there before they came out, but something stopped me. Cole had started to talk about Rob and Meadows’ plan to use kids as suicide bombs. 

Ruby was furious, “Then you know that Jarvin ‘handled’ Blake Howard? The kid he shot in the back on the Op last night?” Gasping, I thought about Jude and Nico. Their little conspiracy theory had been right. We were being picked off one by one.

“I don’t need your protection,” Ruby said quietly, “but Jude does.”

“The beanpole? Sure. I’ll keep an eye on him.”

“And Vida and Nico.”

“Your wish is my command.” I saw Cole give a small bow as he backed out of the curtain, his clothes dripping. 

I scrambled out the door before he could see me and waited outside. Cole was the first out, with Ruby left inside contemplating the choice he had given her.

He froze when he saw me. “H-how long have you been standing there?” 

“Long enough. Come on golden boy, you’ve got some explaining to do.”

He cursed as I led him off down the hallway. I might’ve imagined it, but I swear I heard Ruby laugh through the door.

~

I sighed, leaning against Cole’s broken wardrobe door. “So let me get this straight, you’re planning this scheme for Ruby to go rogue and find Lee so you can get this stupid flash drive?”

“That is correct.”

“And you weren’t planning on telling me anytime soon, were you?”

Cole sighed, running his bandaged fingers through his hair again.

“That is also correct.”

I threw a sneaker at him, and he barely dodged it as it flew past his head, slamming into the opposite wall and only just avoiding a mirror as it clattered to the floor. “You asshole!” 

“You have been spending  _ way _ too much time with Vida.” He chuckled, narrowly missing the other shoe. “I was going to tell you, sort of, just not yet.” 

“If you’re going to continue to lie to me, at least try and make it convincing.” I rolled my eyes at him and walked towards the door. 

“Aria!” I continued to walk through the door and out into the hallway. “Aria!” As I tried to block out Cole and his ridiculous plan from my brain, two steps away I heard a crash come from his room. I burst back in through the door to find Cole unconscious on the floor, the side of his head sticky with blood. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oops.


	22. Part Two: Chapter Five

_ “One of the delayed symptoms of concussion, nothing to worry about” _ \- that’s what the nurse had said. I had found myself back in Cole’s room, with him half-conscious on the bed. He’d already puked twice, and made three of the cringiest pick-up lines I have ever heard about ‘seeing stars’. I swear the man could charm a cactus if he tried hard enough. Cole was supposed to rest, but he was stuck in that state where it’s hard to go to sleep, but it’s equally hard to stay awake. Unfortunately for me, he wasn’t supposed to be left alone which meant that I had been assigned to be his babysitter for the next 48 hours.

There wasn’t much to do, and since Cole currently lacked the ability to concentrate, a game of Cheat was out of the question. Especially considering he didn’t actually know how to play and kept shouting “CHEAT!” at random intervals and more often than not, losing. The highlight of the game occurred when he accidentally shouted “Go fish!” instead of “Cheat!” without realising and I almost fell from where I was perched on the bed from laughing too hard. The only downside from the prolonged laughing fit was that it soon turned into an extended coughing fit.

It got to about midnight, and it was a miracle I was still standing. The cough had come back but much, much worse. I felt like I was being shaken inside out each time it hit. It wasn’t helped by the pretty much permanent headache that made everything feel as if the walls were constantly closing in. I plonked myself down on the bed next to a still semi-conscious Cole and leant into him slightly. There was definitely  _ not _ room for two, but that wasn’t stopping me at this point. Dead on my feet, I had snuggled up beside him. Not for long.  _ Just until he fell asleep _ , I told myself.  _ Just until he fell asleep _ . 

~

When I woke up, it was around 3 am, and I had to slowly ease myself up from on top of Cole’s arm, careful not to wake him. I wasn’t sure why I needed to, he barely stirred when I slid my feet back into my shoes and switched off the light. He looked so different sleeping, all the anger, all the conflict that was permanently etched into his face was nowhere in sight. Cole seemed almost…  _ happy _ .

I leant over the bed slightly, and although every fibre of logic inside of me told me not to, I planted a soft, ghost of a kiss on his forehead. It was probably just the lack of sleep, but I swear— I swear the corners of his mouth formed a small smile. My hand reached down to pick up my jacket as I turned for the door and I took a step forward. That was as far as I got. Cole’s hand caught my wrist as I grabbed the jacket, stopping me from going any further. He slid out of the bed so smoothly you’d think he’d never been concussed. When I turned around to face him, he tugged on my arm. Not harshly, but it was just enough to erase any doubts I had about staying. His hand was still on my wrist, and he used it to pull me in closer. I let myself be drawn in until our faces were barely inches apart. He tilted my head up slightly to meet his and that was when he finally kissed me. This time it wasn’t as urgent as when we first kissed out on the Op, it was more patient, slower, but with much more longing than before. We both wanted this.

It felt like an eternity, but it had all happened in mere seconds. Time slowed down as he rubbed his thumb softly across my jaw, his eyes filled with mischief— and something else, I just hadn’t quite worked out what it was yet. Cole’s other hand slipped from my wrist until his fingers were linked with mine. My other arm was wrapped around the back of his head. 

It wasn’t long before - considering it was close to four in the morning - we both collapsed into the bed from exhaustion. I kicked my shoes back off and my jacket had been thrown across his desk chair. This time, I leaned into him and didn’t move. This time, I didn’t want to leave.

So I fell asleep to the sound of his racing heart.


	23. Part Two: Chapter Six

“You do realise your shirt’s on back to front, right?” Nico nudged me as we sat in the cafeteria for breakfast.

“And that jacket is two sizes too big for you,” Jude chimed in,  _ ever so helpfully _ . 

Okay, so stumbling out of Cole’s room this morning, trying to get dressed in the dark with him still kissing me hadn’t gone  _ quite _ as well as it does in the movies, but I managed to grab my shoes and jacket without fail. A jacket. I grabbed  _ a  _ jacket. It didn’t matter that much that it wasn’t mine, I’d just give it back later. 

I drew the jacket in closer, hoping it would hide the inside out, back to front t-shirt - just as one of the partially rolled up sleeves slipped down over my hand, knocking my drink off the edge of the table. It was luckily saved by Vida, who floated it back into my hand as she slid into the seat next to me. 

“So I’m not really one to gossip, but this is too good an opportunity to pass up. Last night, spill.”

Her comment almost made me choke on my juice. “I— I’m not sure what you’re talking about, Vi.”

Ruby slid into the seat on Vida’s other side and leaned closer into the table before whispering, “Save it, you didn’t come back until seven this morning. We waited up.” The rings under their eyes showed that Roo was telling the truth and all four of them -  _ including _ Nico - leant in further to the centre of the table, anxious to hear what I would say. 

Just as I opened my mouth, Cole walked into the cafeteria with some of his friends, the whole 48-hour thing to do with his concussion meant that they had taken him off of my hands for the day, eager to catch up after the last few months. He caught my eye and smiled, and I gave him a little wave in return. Jude’s fork clattered to the floor and Nico had to get a hard thump on the back from Ruby before the milk he was choking on had a chance to exit through his nose. 

As soon as Nico’s spluttering stopped, I was harassed by a chorus of, “No way”, “You’ve got to be kidding”, “Cole?” and “But he’s an asshole! No offence, though”. The last one was from Vida if you hadn’t already guessed. She shoved down her last mouthful of food and pushed her chair back. “I need to process this, and I do my best thinking when I’m hitting things - I’m going to the gym, you coming?” I shook my head and so did Ruby, just as Jude and Nico started talking about the upgrade they were going to add to their remote-control car this afternoon. 

I took this opportunity to nudge Ruby and whisper, “We need to talk, is now a good time?” She finished her drink, leaving the rest of her half-eaten cereal and followed me out.

“I know about the plan.” She stopped dead in her tracks. “Yeah, sorry to spring that on you, but I sort of heard everything the other day. You know…” I tried to find a way to phrase the next few words, but all I could come up with was “...in the shower?”

Ruby went a shade so red I probably could’ve fried an egg on her face. Not that I’d try. She tried to stutter a response but I held up my hand in response.

“It’s okay, I just want to tell you - I’m in.”

“You’re in?” She whispered, taking a step closer. “Like… what do you mean by ‘in’ exactly?”

I laughed, “God, I’m not coming. I’d only slow you down. I mean, I’ll help Cole with damage control back here while you’re gone, take care of Jude and Nico, stuff like that.”

Ruby let out a sigh of relief and tugged on her dark braid, “Thanks.”

“Anytime.” I half-smiled, Lee will be okay if he’s got her looking out for him.

~

About two weeks later, Ruby discovered the red folder containing an Op brief while we were chatting - the brief for the Op she was ditching to find Liam. Her face went from calm and collected to a steely glare as she slammed it shut after barely skimming her eyes over the first page. 

“Earth to Roo, you okay?” I waved my hand in front of her face as she stood there like an active volcano about to erupt. Without a word she held the folder out to me, I took it as she crossed her arms. It had the word ‘PRIVATE’ printed across the front but I ignored it, flipping to the first page. I got as far as Ruby had - reading the list of agents required for the Op. Tangerine, Sunshine. Sunshine.  _ Sunshine. _ “Oh HELL no.” 

They wanted Jude on the Op.  _ Jude _ . 

If I had been anywhere near Cole at the time I swear I would’ve set the bloody thing on fire. Considering I was trying to stay in Alban’s good books - god knows why - I let Ruby take point on complaining to Cate. Every fibre of my being wanted to march into that office and give him a piece of my mind. He was probably expecting it, knowing Alban he’d even left the door unlocked whilst sitting in there, waiting for me to burst in and start breaking things. 

Breathe. In. Out. Breathe. I needed a distraction. As Ruby left to sort out the Jude situation, and I walked the halls in silent panic, an idea came to my head.  _ Who could calm me down? Cole. _ So I went to find him. He was in the lounge area with some friends, talking and playing table tennis. Without even a glance at any of the others, I grabbed Cole by the collar and herded him out the room.

“Wha— Where are we going?” 

“Training.” I released my hold on him and let Cole fall into step beside me as we walked towards our usual training room. 

“We can’t train, I’m concussed - remember?” Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed him raise his eyebrows and I rolled my eyes in reply.

“You don’t need to do anything except sit there and watch me blow shit up.”

As we pushed through the warehouse door, I was already throwing off my jacket, revealing my inside-out back-to-front tee beneath. He followed suit, unzipping his own top layer and throwing it down on the bench.

“You’re pissed, darlin’. Can I ask why? Also, is that my jacket?”

“Sure, but I’m too angry to answer so you might be disappointed. And yeah, probably.” I grabbed the supplies and used telekinesis to move them to the other end of the room. “You, closer.” Using one hand, I beckoned Cole closer as I flicked the switch on the radio. As I turned back around I realised he was only inches away from me. “You know the drill, touch, fire. Let’s go.”

“Okay, I’ll just…” he reached out for my wrist and used it to spin me around so I was facing away from him, his arms around me from behind. Cole’s breath was hot on my neck as he leaned in closer, and I finally relaxed as he started to plant millions of tiny kisses up along the side of it. “That’s better. Now tell me what happened.”

“The plan. The Op— ” I answered between kisses— “Jude. With Ruby. The Op.  _ Liam’s Op _ .”  _ That _ caught his attention.

“Liam’s Op? Wait, the one Ruby’s going rogue on to find him?”

“They want Jude there for something. He’s not ready. He’ll get hurt.”

Cole’s arms tightened around me reassuringly, but I could feel how worried he was. Not just about Jude, about what this might mean for the Op, what this might mean for Lee.

The pile of supplies at the far end burst into flames, and for once it wasn’t me.


	24. Part Two: Chapter Seven

I sat with Vi and Nico, Jude was nowhere to be found, unusual for him, and neither was Ruby. We were playing Cheat, but no one was really in the mood. We were all too worried that Jude was underage and going on an Op, albeit for slightly different reasons. Nico was visibly counting the cards, and his photographic memory made him hard to beat at the best of times. Vida was deep in thought, and I once again found myself pulling my jacket - Cole’s jacket - around me, to hide my still inside-out, back-to-front t-shirt that I had oh-so-classily forgotten to change in the last three hours. The logo was flipped and it was a miracle no one other than Jude and Nico had noticed that the ticket was sticking out at the back. 

“Cheat,” Nico mumbled as he pushed the cards towards Vida, who was completely oblivious and shuffled them instead of adding them to her deck. 

“Can I join?” A grim-faced Ruby had appeared from around the corner, her hair was a mess and her arms were folded across her front. She pulled up a chair and Nico re-dealt the hands. She clocked that we were all expecting her to say something, and shook her head in response. 

“Jude’s going on his first Op. And I’m his leader.”

~

It wasn’t that long before they left. Early in the morning as always, the plan was to smuggle them into Boston in broad daylight, there was barely any time for a goodbye. Cole hung back, not wanting to draw attention to himself but I hugged them both goodbye and had to shake my head to get rid of the conflicted sense of disassociation I always get when I’m touching more than one person at a time. Not staying for long, I made my way back to Cole so I’d miss the crying part of the goodbyes, my least favourite part.

He was gone when I got back, but it didn’t take long before I came across him in the gym. Cole had spent the brief time I had been saying goodbyes beating the shit out of the single functioning punching bag in there. I joined him and he held it still while I put the gloves on and flexed my fingers. 

We spent half an hour in there, taking it in turns to hold the bag steady for each other. There wasn’t much else to do, and it seemed a bit boring to start a game of Cheat with the others, so somehow Cole and I decided to go on a run. There was a steady ache in my chest and I ignored it, pushing myself harder to get through it. There’s nothing like the feeling you get on a good run, it distracted me from everything else. 

In the end, we found ourselves at our regular training room. Since it was pretty long, and we were pretty competitive, it wasn’t long before... “Bet I can make it to the other end and back before you can.” Cole tied his shoelaces and stood up, reaching for his water bottle and waiting for a reply.

“Oh, you’re on. I bet I could beat you any day.”

“Any day, huh?”

I was already running. By the time I reached the other side, I was slightly out of breath, and the pain in my chest was worse but I put it down as a stitch or something. As I reached the wall I skidded, pushing off to give me more momentum to get back to the starting point. Cole was close behind, seconds away from passing me. Thanks to an extra burst of speed, I reached the far wall where we started moments before he did, slamming my hand on it. The sound echoed around the empty room like a church bell announcing the fact that I had won.

Cole shook his head as he trotted to the wall having given up on the last stretch, muttering something about ‘cheating’ and grinning at me. He turned his back to pick up his water bottle again as I caught my breath. Only, I couldn’t catch my breath.  _ Because I couldn’t breathe. _ I started coughing, not light cold-type coughs, proper chesty hacking coughs. The grooves of the cold wall tugged against the back off my top as I sank down it.

_ I couldn’t breathe. _

Panic overwhelmed me, gasping for air I was unable to speak. Tears streamed down my face, mixing with the sweat from the day’s workout. I’d never felt like this before. Not even in the fire.

_ Is this what dying is like? _

The thought disappeared from my mind as quickly as it arrived because Cole was sitting beside me, talking to me. What was he saying? Breathe. He was telling me to breathe.

“I— I can’t.” I managed to splutter out, panicking, crying.

“Breathe, Aria. I’m here. Breathe. It’s okay.” 

My gasps turned into breaths, and the breaths into a consistent in and out of a regular person’s breathing pattern. I was fine. I was going to be fine. 

“How did you? How did you know what to do?” I managed to ask.

“Claire, my sister. She used to have asthma, got attacks all the time… before IAAN. Do you get them often? Do you have an inhaler?”

“I… what? No. No, I don’t.” I tried to think of something to say, something to draw away from the fact that this had never happened before and I thought I was about to die. “I used to. They stopped when I was eleven.”

He seemed to believe me and nodded. “Maybe we’ll take it easy for a bit. No more races. Although, I know you’d die before letting me beat you.” Cole let out a slight laugh.

I smiled back, but it was forced. Cole didn’t know how right he was.


	25. Part Two: Chapter Eight

For the next few days, everyone was in a mad panic. Cate was running around flustered, Alban was calling people in and out of his office and soon enough I was saying goodbye to Vida. Cate had requested that she be sent with a team to find Ruby and Jude. The team was suiting up, getting ready to leave and we were hovering by the door, unsure of what to say.

“So… bring them back okay?” Vida gave a solemn nod in reply before bursting into laughter.

“I really had you going there for a second, didn’t I?” She pulled me into a short hug. “I know everything, Cate told me.” Wait, Cate  _ knew _ ? Cole had some more explaining to do. I, for one, do not appreciate being left out of the loop. “I’ll definitely ‘bring them back’.” She used air-quotes for the last bit and I knew it was going to turn out okay.

“Watch out for Rob,” I said under my breath, locking eyes with hers. Rob was out there, disappeared since Ruby revealed his plans for the future, and what he had done in the past as a distraction to get away from the Op. No one had heard of him, and he sure as hell wasn’t going to let her get away with screwing with his life like that. 

“Relax, I put up with the douche for years already. If he believes that he can take me on, he’s got another thing coming. I mean - Boo, it’s you who should watch out!” 

“What do you mean?” We started to walk towards the door.

“You did fucking shoot the man in the crotch not that long ago, he’s gotta want vengeance for  _ that _ .”

Vida and I burst out laughing, picturing the paintball session at the end of my training that involved a close call with both Cole and Rob, Cole getting hit in the chest by Rob, and Rob getting shot in the balls by yours truly. I saw her out the door and waved as she got into the van with the rest of the retrieval team. The small bulge of the chatter in her front pocket comforted me a little. I only wished I could’ve gone with her.

~

Cole was, as per usual, in the gym. I found him once again at the punching bag and practically dragged him out. 

“Hi, how’s your day going? Mine was going fine until— Ow! Stop hitting me!” 

By the time we reached his room, I was a tad less annoyed than I had been about not being told  _ vital _ information about the Op. “Asshole! Why didn’t you tell me that Cate knew?” 

“Calm down, darlin’. I can explain.” 

“You can explain your way out of a cardboard box but it’s still a cardboard box!”

“Okay, I’m lost now, what has this got to do with a cardboard box?”

I sighed, running my hands through my hair and refusing to look Cole in the eyes. “You can  _ explain _ if you like, but it doesn’t change the fact that you didn’t tell me!”

“I’m sorry. I just wanted to keep you out of this.” He sat down, putting his head in his hands.

“Why? Because you don’t trust me?” I practically screamed at him. What reason  _ did _ Cole have to trust me? I’ve been lying to him since the day we met. One continuous lie. He doesn’t know that I’m dying.

“God no!“ Cole stood up with such force he knocked the chair over as he came towards me. “Aria,” he whispered to me, “I would trust you with my life. That’s not why I didn’t tell you.”

“Then  _ why _ didn’t you tell me?” He tilted my head up slightly as I spoke so I was forced to look into his blue eyes. 

“Because I was  _ trying _ to keep you safe.” As he said this, Cole wrapped his arms around me and rested his head on top of mine. 

“You’re such a romantic little hypocrite.” I grinned into his shirt, rolling my eyes at the same time. “But we’re League, we literally live for danger. Especially you.”

His laughter echoed through me as we stood there before he lifted me up and tossed my like a ragdoll onto his bed. “You’re right, you clearly don’t need a handsome knight in shining armour to come and rescue you.” 

“I don’t recall calling you a ‘handsome knight in shining armour’.” 

“Prince Charming then?”

“Nope.”

“But you were  _ thinking _ about it.”

“Was not!”

“You are now…” He joined me on the bed and put his arm around me.

“I’m not!” “Lying is one of the first symptoms of denial, you know.” I thumped him in the arm. “Ow! Just stating facts.” He fake rubbed his ‘sore’ arm and I snuggled into him as he  _ finally _ told me everything I hadn’t already known about Liam’s Op, the people involved and the other people at the League.


	26. Part Two: Chapter Nine

I’m fine. I am fine. I  _ AM _ fine. At least, that’s what I tried telling myself as I sat on the toilet inside a locked cubicle staring at the tissue in my hands. It had blood on it. I had just  _ coughed up blood _ .  _ Again _ . I was  _ NOT _ fine. I grabbed a wad of toilet paper and shoved it in the back pocket of my jeans, pulling my hoodie down to hide the bulge. 

I was  _ not _ fine. I was never going to be fine. Fine is a word that should no longer be in my vocabulary! I was not fine. I was not fine. I was not— Nico was walking in the opposite direction as I came out of the toilets. Being in the state I was in, I hadn’t noticed him coming towards me and I  _ certainly _ hadn’t noticed how in a rush he was until he collided with my face. 

“Shit!” He cursed quietly, but apparently not at walking into me - he appeared to be looking for a signal for his chatter. “Oh, sorry, Aria. Are you okay?” 

Snapping back to attention, I brought myself back to the real world long enough to reply. I nodded my head with such ferocity, any more and it would’ve fallen off. “Fine! Yeah, Nico. I’m fine. I’ve never been so fine!”  _ Stop saying ‘fine’!  _ I told myself as I walked away, leaving Nico standing there bewildered at my strange behaviour and silent mutterings.

Vida! No, she’s on an Op. Ruby? Also on the same Op. Jude? Same. Damn. Op. Cole? Cole would worry too much. I’ve just managed to stop him worrying about me, I can’t tell Cole. Nico? Nico seemed a bit preoccupied. The only available person is Cole.  _ And I can’t tell Cole _ .

“ _ Can’t tell Cole what? _ ” I yelped as he appeared behind me. Shit! I must’ve been talking to myself out loud. Putting my head in my hands, I sighed. I had just  _ yelped _ . Like a puppy. I had just  _ yelped _ . I really needed to stop talking to myself, I need to slow down. Just slow down. Breathe. Breathe. Aria, breathe. “Uh, earth to Aria?” He was shaking my shoulders slightly to get my attention.

Before I could stop myself, I said the first thing that came to mind. Unfortunately, it was - “I’m FINE!” and Cole visibly recoiled at the volume of my response. “Sorry,” I mumbled, moving to lean against the wall. The wall was so nice and cool, I had barely noticed sliding down it until I collided with the floor. 

“Shit, Aria. What’s going on? I’ve hardly seen you for the past… what?  _ Three _ days?” Cole slid down the wall next to me, as I curled my knees up to rest my head on them. My head. My god-awful POUNDING head that made every moment of every day feel like I was at a fucking NIGHTCLUB. But when it wasn’t making me feel like someone had put a bass drum up there, it felt like everything was in slow motion and I was seeing everything through a pane of frosted glass. Breathe, Aria. Breathe. Three days. What had happened in the last three days? My mind ran over everything from the last three days so fast I felt like someone had pressed the rewind button on it like on a TV remote.

“I’m—” 

“Fine, I get it. Now tell me the truth.”

“I don’t know…” I lied, only telling the half-truth. The past three days I had spent mostly in and out of the toilet, hiding, crying, as I coughed up more and more blood. Now was  _ not _ the time for me to be like this. Not when we were so close to everything. The flash drive, Alban had even looked at Ruby’s proposal to get rid of the camps not that long ago. Things were getting better. Why did I have to get sick now? “I feel…” It was hard to find the right word for what I was experiencing. “Fuggy.”

“You feel  _ fuggy _ ?” He raised an eyebrow at me, so I reached out to thump him on the arm and missed, narrowly clipping his chin instead. “Okay! Okay, fuggy it is. How much sleep have you been getting?”

“I went to bed early last night?” I tried to suggest, but Cole just shook his head. He saw right through me. 

“Hate to tell you, but early as in ‘ _ early hours of the morning _ ’ doesn’t count.” He snorted, pushing himself up off the floor. Cole extended a hand for me to take and I waited for him to offer the other before letting him pull me up from the floor. “ _ You _ are going to bed. Early. Now.”

“But it’s like four-thirty!” I whined, “and I have the thing!” For some reason, I tried to pull away from him to make my way down the corridor but he was preventing me from moving by having a firm arm wrapped around my middle.

“The thing? What thing?” 

I paused. Apparently, I seemed to be unable to remember what ‘the thing’ was. Probably because I was so. damn. tired. Okay, maybe Cole was right. But that definitely didn’t give him the right to fireman-lift me over his shoulder and carry me to his room. I was plonked down on the bed as he removed my shoes and hoodie, leaving me in my jeans, tank top and socks. 

Well, I have to admit. The bed was comfier than I remembered, and it was almost too easy to snuggle down into it and relax. All thoughts of coughing up blood and dying pretty much evaporated from my mind as I sunk into a dreamless sleep with Cole beside me. 


	27. Part Two: Chapter Ten

The coughing had died down a little, not as noticeable as before but still there. It was a little weird not having Jude, Vida and Ruby around. I was beginning to miss Jude’s constant chatter, and lack of poker face while playing cheat, Vida’s sarcastic comments and rude-but-accurate nicknames, and my inside jokes with Ruby. Hopefully, it wouldn’t be too long until they came back. I was trying to find Nico to ask him how his remote-control car was coming along, but I couldn’t find him anywhere. He’d been disappearing more and more lately and no one could figure out where to.

On the way, I spotted Cate running around looking frantic. As I raised my hand to wave to her, she spotted and grabbed me, pulling me by the arm into a nearby empty room. 

“Hey, Cate. What’s—” I could barely finish my sentence before she shoved a chatter in my face, it’s dim light still harsh up close. It had a conversation on it between two people, and it seemed normal enough.

“It’s a convo, why the stress?” As I pushed the small device further away from me, my eyes adjusted and I could actually read the messages. It was a conversation between Cate and Vida, but something was wrong. The tone wasn’t quite right on the messages being received. Scrolling through, I saw the final two messages.  _ Later, gator. In a while, crocodile. _

_Later, gator_ was our standard goodbye, but it was **_never_** followed by crocodile, it was followed by _in an hour, sunflower_ \- a play on Cate’s call-sign. Vida would never get that wrong. Which could only mean…

“This isn’t Vi, is it?”

Cate shook her head. We were in deep shit.

~

It wasn’t that hard to find Cole when both Cate and I were looking for him. I tried to multitask by looking for Nico as well to see if I could figure out how our chatter connection had been hacked, but he’d disappeared again. In the end, I found another green and brushed past them on my way to finding Cole. After watching a few online talks about hacking, programming and secure signals and once we found Cole, Cate got me a faster computer to figure out when we stopped talking to Vida and started talking to someone else.

As it turns out, we hadn’t had our connection interrupted for that long - only a few days, but there was no other way of getting in contact with the real Vida, other than finding out who or what was intercepting and redirecting our messages. I sat, hunched over the computer screen with my fingers flying over the keys. Cole and Cate were practically breathing down the back of my neck in both anticipation and awe - they’d only ever seen me switch from blue to red and back - never seen me as a green or yellow.

“The signal’s encrypted. I’ve managed to get through the first firewall, but our mystery person here is rerouting not only their signal to bounce through separate US satellites, but also masking their IP address using a proxy or VPN which means I can’t find their signal or identity through there.” 

“Uhh, English?” Cole raised his eyebrows, a recognisable sign of confusion.

“Long story short, I can’t find them.” I sighed, shutting the laptop. “We just have to wait and hope there’s an improvement on the other end. Hopefully, they’ll figure out it’s not us just as quick as we figured out it wasn’t them.”

Cate piped up nervously, “So there’s nothing we can do?”

Shaking my head, I replied, “We can’t do anything except wait.”

“Well, actually no. There  _ is _ one thing that we could do.” I turned around to face Cole, his eyes burning intensely with an idea. “We could catfish them.” 

“Catfish?” Cate echoed, weighing up the possibilities.

“It’s when—” He started to explain, but was quickly cut back off by Cate.

“Don’t mansplain this to me, I’m not so old I don’t know what the word ‘catfishing’ means.” 

I turned my laugh into a fake cough at a glare from Cole, contemplating the success of the idea. If it worked, we could figure out why the person on the other end had intercepted our signal. If it  _ didn’t _ , on the other hand, we could potentially reveal the fact that we knew it wasn’t our agents on the other end and possibly put them in danger. Then again, if they  _ were _ already in danger, we wouldn’t know because they still can’t contact us directly. It’s a lose-lose situation.

Unable to make a decision, we did the least biased thing possible. The decision was made to flip a coin.

“Heads - we do it. Tails - we wait.” Cole picked up the dime and rolled it between his finger and thumb before flicking it up into the air, catching it and placing it on his hand.

Slowly, he moved his other hand from on top of the coin.

It had landed on heads.


	28. Part Two: Chapter Eleven

I woke up to the screaming. Something had happened, something bad.  _ Gunshots _ .  _ More screams _ . Struggling to pull on my hoodie in the dim light, I stepped towards the source of the sounds as the others in the room rubbed their eyes.  _ More gunshots _ . Fear rippled through the room, gasps echoing from each person as their half-awake brains tried to comprehend what was happening. I was scared, but something else took over - something that I had been trained for.  _ Controlled panic _ . 

Signalling to the others in the room, I made my way through the door. The sight wasn’t something I could have ever prepared for. There was blood in the corridor, fresh blood. The girl next to me - a blue - nodded before returning back to the room we came from, I heard her announce that we’d been compromised, but my head went fuggy again before I could hear the rest.  _ No. Not now. Stay focused. _ As I fought through the haze that was beginning to cloud the edges of my vision, I directed myself towards the one place I knew would be the most secure, the place where I’d be able to get orders on how to handle this. 

It had never occurred to me that the breach could have come from the inside. 

Thank the fucking stars I paused to tie my shoelace before bursting through Alban’s door like I normally do. If I hadn’t, there’s no way I would’ve heard Jarvin. He was talking to a few other agents, they had the door propped open with something. No - someone. Leant between the door and the frame was none other than John Alban. The colour drained from his face, multiple bullet holes piercing his body to a point where the blood had stopped rushing out but had slowed to a steady trickle, forming a puddle near the bottom of the door. It was too much for me, I backed away before the blood could reach my sneakers, trying to resist the urge to cry out. Behind me, I reached something solid, and before I could move, an arm snaked around me, clamping my mouth shut. 

I raised my arms to fight my attacker off, reaching one hand back in an attempt to find a pressure point. Before I could reach it the grip relaxed, and as I touched their neck, a familiar sensation flooded through my body. Psi. Red. It could only mean one thing. As I span around, the air was knocked out of my chest as Cole caught me in a strong hug. “Oh thank god,” I whispered. “Are you okay?”

“Are  _ you _ okay?” He cupped my face in his hands, answering my question with another question.

“Not entirely, but I’m a bit better now,” I pointed towards the limp body that had once been the coordinator of the League. Cole responded by nodding gravely. “We need to get out of here. Find Cate.” He nodded again, sharply. But as soon as it appeared, the concern that had plagued his face was replaced by the cold need to fight. It was clear why.

As I turned around, some of the agents I had heard before from Alban’s office stood outside the door. They had no regard for what had happened and barely glanced at the body on the floor. Jarvin wasn’t with them - he was still inside the office, sitting on Alban’s chair like it was made for him. The fucking  _ audacity _ . A glance at Cole told me I shouldn’t, but I’ve never really been one to follow the rules. Their guns were raised at us, poised - waiting for us to make our first move. After all, we were never really any match for them in their minds.  _ That was their first mistake. _

I took a step forward, just as the safety was flicked off their guns. Raising my hands in surrender, I took a second step. “There’s nothing wrong with being on the winning side, right?” My words had shocked the agents just long enough for me to take another step. The look on Cole’s face would’ve been a pretty picture - if he hadn’t been acting. Not wanting to waste any more time, one of the agents reached for a zip tie and grabbed my hands, twisting them behind my back. The moment she touched my hands, she reeled back, nursing her own, the plastic zip-tie falling to the floor instantly.

“Are you serious? You can’t even put a tie on her?  _ Useless _ ,” he sighed, reaching for a new tie and coming towards me. He reached out, grasping my hands roughly before dropping them like they were on fire. Probably because they were. “What the—” I cut him off, spinning round and delivering a whopping knee to the groin. As I turned to the woman, Cole advanced - only to be attacked from behind by someone else. I burnt a hole through her jacket and knocked her unconscious just as Cole dealt with his own attacker.

Without saying a word, I took the hint and ran. As we skidded around the corner, I crashed into a luckily friendly face and breathed a sigh of relief.

“Well, I was wondering what the hell had happened to you two!”


	29. Part Two: Chapter Twelve

“Cate! What’s going on, exactly?” I leant on her arm to catch my breath and steady myself as she explained.

“Jarvin and the rest of him and Rob’s lot have overthrown Alban. I’ve not got that much time, they know I’m not on their side. Look - two days time is Christmas Day, I’ll have everything sorted by then and I’ll be back - 6AM.” And she shot out the door, trailing a load of papers behind her. 

“What are we going to do?” I resisted the urge to slam my hand into the wall - we all know where that got me last time.

“Make sure no one else dies.” Cole had already set off down the corridor. 

I ran the opposite way, checking all of the rooms for people. With almost all of them clear, I started to head back upstairs to the main area. On the stairs, I paused - someone was typing, it was obvious through the tapping of keys as I retraced my steps in order to follow the sound. It was coming from the end of the corridor, through the supply closet door. 

There was no window on the door, so I could only hope that the environment inside wasn’t hostile as it creaked open. I was met by the continuous clicking of a keyboard and as I finally closed the door behind me, the room was occupied by none other than Nico - who hadn’t even realised I’d come in.

“Nico? Nico? Hey!” I grabbed my friend’s shoulder to shake him out of his trance and he finally realised that he was no longer in the room alone.

“Aria…?” He looked around, clearly expecting someone, no -  _ anyone _ else. 

“Yeah, it’s me. How long have you been down here? Does anyone else know you’re here? Do you know what’s happening?” I fired questions at him like bullets, before pausing to give him a chance to answer.

“I saw Cate. I know about Alban. With him out of the way… does this mean Jarvin will go forward with his plan?” Nico worriedly snapped his laptop shut, unplugging his headphones whilst hugging the still whirring computer to his chest.

“What plan?”

“He and Rob have been trying to get Alban to agree to it for ages, he kept flat-out refusing - it’s  _ literal _ suicide.”

“Nico,  _ what plan _ ?” I pleaded with him before he got too carried away in analysing the situation to answer.

“They wanted to strap bombs to the kids and send them into the camps.”

“Nicolas Ramirez  _ what the fuck did you just say _ ?”

~

Practically  _ dragging _ Nico back upstairs, however reluctant he may have been to make his way back to society was easier than I expected. We managed to make our way to the surveillance room undetected and used the cameras to locate Cole and the others - the second floor.

I left Nico in the room with the others, huddled together in one of the boys’ group bedrooms before I could finally make my way back to Cole. I was unsure about whether he already knew about Jarvin’s plan and previous proposals to Alban, but if he didn’t it was the top priority to tell him. 

Cole was in our training room for some absurd reason, looking for something. I tapped him on the shoulder, definitely not expecting to be judo-flipped over his shoulder in response. “Shit! Aria, sorry!” He held out a hand to help me up and I took it gratefully. “But seriously, do not sneak  _ up _ on me like that!” 

I filled him in on the situation. He didn’t panic - visibly. Knowing Cole, he was probably hiding it and freaking out inside, not that he’d ever tell anyone that. From the surface, he was calm and collected,  _ controlled panic _ , a natural leader. People naturally trusted him - that was if they could get over the whole  _ ass _ façade he puts on. It was one of the reasons we worked so well together, he balanced out against the fact that people don’t naturally like me.

Anyway, I watched him think through possible scenarios like a trained fighter, analysing every possible one. It was clear to see the cogs turning as he flicked through all of the potential options, running his hands through his hair and pacing around the room. Leaning against the wall, I sat on the bench and waited for him to finish. My head was spinning with everything that had happened in the past few hours, but it could have just been bad health. Yet again, I found myself shaking it clear and struggling to my feet.

“Well?” I walked over to Cole and nestled my head so his chin was resting on top of it, fitting together like the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. 

“There is one option,” he sighed, wrapping one arm around me, the other still fiddling with his hair, “We wait for Cate. There’s no exact time frame for Jarvin’s plan, which can only mean that they don’t plan to do it in the next few days - giving Cate enough time.”

“Is that it? That’s all we can do?”

“Darlin’, there’s no other way.”

~

Jarvin’s buddies were still in the process of rounding up and locking up - or worse - anyone who disagreed with them. Only a handful of League agents were left, well - a handful compared to the amount at HQ before.

Cole and I had to split up - he had to grab supplies from somewhere, and I needed to clear my head. We still stuck to the shadows, even though we were apart we moved in the same way - something he had taught me. How to make yourself a ghost,  _ a play on my  _ own _ call-sign _ . It’s a  _ very _ handy skill to have.

I was able to make my way back downstairs to where I found Nico, even though a small part of me expected him to be back here - hiding out, typing away furiously on his laptop like usual, I was glad he wasn’t here, because I could relax while I was alone. Relax. And panic. _Shit. What would happen to Vida, Jude and Ruby when they came back? They don’t know… they don’t know… they don’t know… and there’s no way to tell them._ _Shit!_

Physical restraint was needed to stop myself from giving everything I had to the sturdy basement wall in front of me. Breathe, Aria.  _ Breathe _ . I was regaining focus, then it hit. 

_ The first wave of dizziness. _

As my vision clouded, I leant against the wall for support. I reached for the door handle, one thought continuing to cross my mind.  _ Find Cole _ . Now was not a good time to be unconscious and alone. I just needed to— 

_ The second wave of dizziness. _

Clutching the wall, I followed it to the stairs. Stairs. Too many stairs. What was I doing? Cole. That was it, I just had to find— 

_ The darkness swallowed me whole. _


	30. Part Two: Chapter Thirteen

I woke up to the screaming. Sound familiar? I was getting  _ major _ deja vu. Only, this time I was half-way up the staircase to the basement, and the whole building appeared to be crumbling. I had to get out of here - find the others - and _fast_. 

The lights were flickering as plaster fell from the ceiling, before finally dying out with a splutter. Voices were coming from the Atrium, shouts and orders. Tripping over my own feet, the action caused me to narrowly miss a falling light and I scrambled out of the way, too scared to check myself for injuries. 

“Move! Move!  _ MOVE! _ ” A Southern voice, a very recognisable one, was giving orders to get everyone out. I followed the sound with such urgency, the fact that I appeared to be dripping blood on the floor behind me was momentarily forgotten. Through the glowsticks, I saw a flash of blue hair.  _ Vida?  _ As I wiped the sweat from my forehead, the others got to the tunnel entrance. No! I had to get to them before the door shut. I  _ had _ to. I just needed to— avoid the falling debris to get there. Practically throwing myself out of the way, something crashed to the floor next to me, the shock pushing me forward. It wasn’t a something, it was someone from the upper level. By the looks of it, they were already dead  _ before _ they even hit the ground.

I pushed to the front, still following the only sound I could focus on - Cole’s voice. He was ushering people forward, before getting to the front himself. Taking a chance, I cried out.

“COLE!” Even in the dim light, I saw his blonde head turn around at the shout, a glow stick reflected in his eyes as he tried to find me. There were muffled gasps of annoyance as I made my way through the ever-moving crowd. He fought against the current of people to reach me and I melted into his arms. 

“I— I thought you were dead.” He whispered into my hair. “I thought I’d already lost you.” I barely had time to reply before he caught me in a kiss, so full of urgency but also  _ relief _ . My hands clutched his shirt as people moved around us, struggling to get out. It was like the rest of the world had faded away, and even though it was dangerous, I just wanted to stay in this moment, wrapped in his arms. It was interrupted by a very,  _ very _ stern voice coming from none other than… Chubs? 

“Break it up lovebirds, unless you feel like being crushed when the ceiling caves in.”

“What the—  _ Chubs? _ ” I crashed into him, wrapping my arms around his neck. “Holy  _ shit _ , the last time I saw you…” Trailing off, I glanced at the place where his scar was hidden. He understood and sighed. “I’ll tell you all about my adventures later. For now, can we  _ please _ get out of here?” It was only when he took a step back, pointing towards the exit did I realise who was next to him - a bundle of nerves but still, Lee was staring right at me, his eyes the only part of him unwavering.

“What the  _ fuck _ ?” He looked at me, and then at his brother, before returning to me.

“Lee, I—” he cut me off by jogging towards the exit, without even a second glance back. Chubs shrugged and followed him, and Cole and I were left running behind them to make our way back to the front. All this happened in a few minutes, but everything felt like it was in slow motion as the tunnel began to collapse behind us. The lack of glow sticks left us running, fumbling around in the dark in the hot and humid tunnel, everyone crammed together in the evacuation. As we ran, the vibrations were felt before I even heard the noise - four bangs in quick succession, everyone throwing themselves to the floor as the rest of the tunnel collapsed behind, completely cutting off HQ. 

The sounds repeatedly echoed in my ears, leaving me plagued with guilt about the people we had left behind. My thoughts were interrupted by Cole getting everyone back on their feet, shouting “Move! Move!” He grabbed me by the arm, hoisting me up and half-carrying me as we continued to make our way forward. 

A message from Chubs was sent along the line of people: “The tunnel back in is totally blocked off now.”

As I looked back, Liam was behind me and Ruby close behind him. I say looked, but it was pitch black - impossible to see anything, but I could hear them, and they seemed okay. The tunnel continued to narrow and widen, causing everyone to continuously change positions between ducking and walking upright. At first, I thought maybe I was imagining the light, but as we got nearer, the ladder was visible and the thin shaft of light shining on it lit up various relieved faces.

_ Everything was going to be okay. _


	31. Part Two: Chapter Fourteen

Cole went up first, before grabbing my hand and helping me through. A few younger kids, tired and scared huddled by the exit, waiting and praying that their friends would eventually come through. They weren’t alone. I pictured Liam, Chubs, Ruby, Vida, Nico and Jude’s faces, hoping to see them. I wasn’t disappointed as Cole helped Ruby through the entrance of the tunnel, out into the blinding light. Fear shook me as I waited for everyone to come through, I had barely noticed the swirl of debris and smoke leftover from the explosions. I grabbed Ruby the moment she was through and held her tightly. 

“From what I can see, the Op was a success?” I tilted my head in the direction of Lee, and she nodded, then shook her head, then nodded again. I took that as a yes, and decided to ask for an explanation later, watching Cole grip Lee’s hand before shaking him roughly.

“Goddammit, you stupid kid!” Cole cried, his throat hoarse as he practically choked on each word. “You scared the shit out of me! Why can’t you just  _ listen _ to me!” It could’ve been exhaustion or relief, but Liam let his brother wrap him in for a deep hug, the rest left unspoken. Clearly, I’d missed something, but it was obviously a story for another day.

“Some of us are still trying to get out, assholes!” Vida shattered the moment, climbing out from the tunnel without any assistance before brushing down her jacket to get rid of the dirt and mess from the escape. Her blue hair was thick with dust and uneven and patchy on one side. There’s no way it could’ve been intentional. She came over to me and gave me a quick hug before we both stood and stared out at the horizon, the sky still filling with thick black smoke from the recent attacks. It was hard to believe what had just happened, but as we witnessed the scene continue to unfold, it was clear that everything was going to change - even more than it did after the first cases of IAAN. “Well, would you look at that,” she whistled. “So, how’ve you been?”

“Could be better,” I winced as Chubs started inspecting my arm. I hadn’t even noticed him arrive until he started poking and prodding at the long gash that ran along it, there was no point in me even flinching away no matter how much it hurt because if anyone was going to fix me it would be Chubs. 

Vida lay down on the ground, resting her hands on her stomach and they rose and fell with every breath she took. Once Chubs was finished with me, Liam and Ruby came over - Liam in a  _ slightly _ better mood than before. He leant closer to Chubs and whispered, “We’ll stay with them until we figure out how to get out of the city.” It hurt that they were thinking of leaving so soon, I wanted to at least talk a little bit. Instead of focusing on that thought, I looked over at Ruby instead - but something was wrong. 

Chubs caught on first, “Ruby? What’s wrong?”

Lee turned around just after, also concerned. “What? What is it?”

Ruby was a ghost, pale and cold like stone. Shivering, hesitating, when she spoke her voice was barely a whisper. “Where… Where’s Jude?”

_ Time stood still.  _

Out of nowhere, Cole caught me as my legs gave way. I heard Vida call out for Jude, shouting his name. Ruby ran to Nico, and Liam and Chubs disappeared back into the tunnel, but not before someone shoved a glow stick into each of their hands. I drew my knees up to my chest and leaned into Cole as he put one arm around me, the other steadying us both on the ground. His sweater smelled of smoke and ash, and it momentarily distracted me. 

“Cole?”

“Yeah?”

“What did you do?” I turned my head up to face him, looking directly in his eyes.

“I don’t know what you mean.” 

“You’re hot, half your sleeve is missing and you smell of smoke. What did you do?” 

At my comment about his sleeve, Cole pulled a thread of his jumper and rolled it between his fingers. “You think I’m hot?” I thumped him in the arm in response. “Okay, okay, I deserved that one. Yeah… the number of people who know about my abilities has evened back out after Alban. I helped Ruby.”

“So she knows.” I finished, thinking over the situation. “I think that means she has a right to know about my abilities too then.”

He nodded, and we waited for Lee and Chubs to come back in silence. Every now and then, I’d shoot a quick glance back at the opening where Vida and Ruby sat against the wall.

As the minutes stretched into hours, one, then two, they still didn’t return. After what seemed like forever, most of the kids had crashed, slipping into something so restless it probably couldn’t even count as sleep. When they finally got back, I saw Liam emerge first, then Chubs, then… nothing. 

Chubs bent down next to Vida to say something, but she brushed him off. Liam held something out towards Ruby and she might as well have been shot for the way she crumpled. The moment the object caught the light, I knew exactly what it was.

_ Jude’s compass. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This ending was physically painful for me. I want you to know that.


	32. Part Two: Chapter Fifteen

I didn’t even pay attention to the low-flying plane above us as it dropped a million pieces of paper into the air. Cole caught one and read it out to me, but I wasn’t listening. I wasn’t looking around, I wasn’t thinking properly, I wasn’t feeling. I was just…  _ numb _ . The only thing that roused me from my half-existence was the single gunshot that fired out behind us. Cole pushed himself up from the ground and offered me a hand. I took it, shaking, and followed him to the source of the sound, where a dozen of the remaining agents were circling around something — someone, aiming their weapons. 

Unfortunately, Cole was the only one stupid enough to try and stop Vida from tearing out Clancy Gray’s throat as she forced her way towards him. I recognised him from all the posters, from TV. Although the President’s son was currently drenched in sewage and dirt, it was clear he thought he had the upper hand. However much I wanted to see him suffer, try to plead his case in front of the remnants of The League, I shut down again. 

I let the invisible barrier slide down in front of me, so everything faded. The colours dimmed and the sounds all blurred together. I said nothing. I did nothing.

One thought circled my mind. 

_ I never even got to say goodbye _ .

The only thing I noticed was Cole’s sharp intake of breath and the way his grip tightened around my arm. Something was happening.

I tilted my head back slightly to look at the expression on his face, expecting to see either anger, guilt or shock. Instead, there was hope. 

Ruby held up a few loose sheets of paper, high up into the air. They were crumpled, burnt at the corners and stained dark with smoke, but her face was full of emotion that could only be described as triumphant. 

“What, you mean  _ this _ research?”

Everyone was discussing what was happening. I, on the other hand, had no idea what was going on. I tugged on Cole’s sleeve and shrugged.

“The First Lady - Clancy’s mum, she’s got a cure.”

“A cure for what?”

“Us. A cure for the Psi.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't know why I end up crying. I mean come on, right? I've read the books. Shit, I WROTE this. But everytime Jude's death just asdkjdfasdhasjdhdsa


	33. Part Three: Chapter One

I sat on the floor of the second level of the warehouse we were using as a makeshift HQ while we waited for a way to get ourselves out of the city. Vida hadn’t been back for long, but Chubs was already trying to bandage up a nasty cut she’d received while she was out, the black backpack containing Lillian Gray’s research leaning against the wall next to him. He continued to fuss over her and she kept rejecting his help and trying to peel his hand away. Liam was sitting next to us, his back against the wall, ever-watching one of the other agents as the food was passed out. He barely took anything before passing the rest onto Chubs as it reached him.

I noticed Ruby come back, on edge and looking for someone. For a second or two, I contemplated asking her if she wanted something, but I decided against it. Even though she didn’t look okay, Liam was by her side the instant he realised she had returned and I didn’t want to interfere or interrupt. Besides, there’s a large chance Lee wanted to broach the subject of him, Chubs and Ruby leaving and there was no way I would be welcome at that conversation, especially since I wasn’t going anywhere - not yet, anyway.

All conversations in the room halted abruptly as Cole came back, shortly followed by a rather bedraggled yet smart looking lady wearing a torn navy dress and her hair in a messy bun. He looked pretty pleased with himself, but everyone else was looking at Cole with either a puzzled or exasperated look on their face. I joined Liam, Ruby, Chubs and Vida by the door, catching the tail-end of a confusing conversation.

“Wow, we have such nice friends,” Liam said under his breath. Even without knowing the context of the conversation, I could hazard a guess based on the shared glare between Vi and Chubs that it was something to do with yet another violent joke on Vida’s behalf. 

“What did I miss?” I whispered, nudging Nico as I studied the situation.

“That’s Anabel Cruz.” He pointed to the lady that had come in with Cole. “She’s one of California’s senators. From what I can see, she was meeting with Amplify - the underground news org - when the attacks happened on the FC.”

“Really?” Raising an eyebrow, I looked the woman up and down. Cole seemed confident enough, and he continued to challenge Sen as they argued over his decision. 

“Seems like it. She was with the reporter, and he got shot. According to Cole, she would’ve been killed on the spot too if she hadn’t identified herself.”

“You’re kidding?”

“That’s not something I do, no.”

Whilst we had been talking, Ruby was already making marks on a map for Cole. They’d been trying to work this out for the past two weeks - an easy way out of the city, or at least  _ easier _ . 

“No, what we need to do is get the hell out of this city - as quickly as possible.” Cole studied the map and looked around the room.  _ We were finally getting out of here _ . He noticed me watching and winked. I was about to say something to him, but Ruby caught his wrist and motioned towards the door. 

“You don’t make the call.” Sen was finishing, visibly annoyed by the fact that Cole was in charge.

“You know what? I think I just did. Anyone got a problem with that?” He replied casually, in a way that was only offensive to the person he was focusing the question on. The room fell quiet in response, kids shaking their heads to agree with his final decision. After a few brief conversations with some of the younger kids as he passed them, Cole disappeared into the corridor. Ruby hesitated so as to not draw attention, before finally following him. I was curious about what they were talking about, and curiosity almost got the better of me until a firm hand placed itself on my shoulder.

“You. Me. Outside. Now.” Chubs wasn’t beating around the bush and I knew exactly what he wanted to talk about. I’d been trying to dodge the topic ever since our little reunion but it was clear he couldn’t avoid it any longer. I followed him down the stairs to a room that used to be a storage area on the ground floor. 

“So… what’s up?” Feigning innocence, I smiled and leaned against the wall, mimicking the casual position that the Stewart boys were known for. 

“You know damn well  _ what’s up _ !” He rubbed his hand across his face as his breathing slowed, calming himself down. “I don’t see you for  _ months _ \- I thought you were  _ dead _ ! Then I get shot and you appear out of fucking  _ nowhere _ … And now you seem perfectly healthy yet you haven’t seemed to take the time out of your  _ busy _ schedule to explain to me what the HELL is going on with you!”

I sighed. “You better get comfy Chubsy, it’s a long and complicated story. Right, I’ll start from where I left you and Lee to join the League.”

Chubs pulled up a box and turned it over, using it as a chair. “Well you better get started then, haven’t you?”


	34. Part Three: Chapter Two

The conversation with Chubs drained pretty much all of my energy, which wasn’t what I’d planned considering we were supposed to be leaving for the ranch in less than two and a half hours. Ruby kept disappearing and Liam kept giving her disapproving looks for it, and it took me twenty minutes to find Cole. 

He was organising what everyone had to do before we left. I caught him once he’d finished talking to two green girls - Blair and Sara. With everything that was happening, Cole was in such a state that he barely registered my hand on his arm.

“Hey, you okay?” 

“Wh— Aria, hey. Yeah. Just a bit mad isn’t it? We’re  _ finally _ getting out of here.” He whistled and looked around at the chaos that was the current living situation, before lowering his voice slightly. “There was a slight complication, but I can’t tell you yet - I can’t risk anyone overhearing.”

I sighed and nodded. “Okay, cool. Just don’t get so caught up in everything you forget to breathe, okay?” It was a joke that wasn’t really a joke, but he understood my concern and laughed. 

“I’ll be fine. I’ve just got to find—” We were interrupted by a loud crash coming from the direction of the room where Clancy Gray was being kept. “ _ Shit _ .” 

Cole made his way towards the noise and burst into the room, me hot on his heels to survey the damage. He grabbed Ruby, wrapping his arms around her middle and pinning her own to her sides in an attempt to calm her down. Shoving her away from Clancy, who was gasping for breath with his arms up to protect his head, he shouted back at her. “Cool it!”

While they were distracted, I grabbed Clancy and hauled him to his feet before securing a new zip-tie and yanking a pillowcase over his head, knotting it to secure it for the journey. Cole continued to try and calm Ruby down. “You’re better than that. Get a grip.”

“He said something.” She shook her hair out of her face, eyes hard as steel. “About Jude.”

“She may be better than that. But I’m not.”

I heard Cole mutter something along the lines of “Son of a bitch” as he reached out to grab me but he wasn’t fast enough. I tore towards Clancy, ripping the pillowcase off from around him and tearing it in half in the process. The first hit landed square on his jaw, sending him to the floor with the sheer  _ anger _ behind it. I didn’t make a second, but instead, I grabbed his bound wrists, pulling him upwards again. The fire inside me was growing at an almost unbearable rate. He screeched as my hand burnt his wrist before Cole could drag me away.

“Do you have  _ any idea _ what you have done? You have given him the perfect ammunition to use against any one of us. There was no need, calm down. It’s okay, come on. You don’t need to stoop to his level.” I grabbed his jumper for something to clench in my fists to prevent my nails from digging into my palms. 

Looking at Clancy I whispered, “You deserve a hell of a lot worse than what I just gave you.” Finally, I turned back to Cole. “Without this asshole, Jude would still be alive.” It was only a few seconds, but I pushed past him out into the hallway and left him to secure Clancy, with Ruby staring after me in bewilderment. 

“ _ Seriously? _ Her too?” She sighed as the door slammed behind me.

I needed to get some air. Who knew what I’d do if I didn’t.

~

It was Liam who found me. I had been swearing and punching the wall until my fists were bruised and bloody.

“Damn, darlin’. What the hell have  _ you _ been up to?” He leaned against the wall next to me as I put my head in my hands. 

It didn’t take long to explain what had happened with Clancy, and he helped me clean up before we went back inside. I was unable to meet Cole’s eyes. He opened a bag of potato chips and when Ruby came in he patted the ground next to him and she came and sat with us. She leant against him with me on his other side. Clearly, Clancy hadn’t failed to be exhausting even after I’d beat the shit out of him. She kept giving me strange looks, I mean - who could blame her? Once we were alone, there would be a  _ lot _ to talk about.

The room hushed as Cole entered, about to make the final announcement about the move to the Ranch.. “Team A is me, Aria, Ruby, Liam, Vida, Nico, our guest, and what’s-his-face— the one in the prissy button-down.”

Liam threw his hands up in exasperation, but Chubs only shrugged. “Better than Grannie. And for the record, Chubs.”

Ruby cut in, as Lee looked at her with disappointment. “Not Nico.”

Cole only nodded and replied, “Fine. Nico, you’ll go with Team D.” He then explained to Senator Cruz that she was with Team C, not Team A and that he was previously referring to our less-welcome guest,  _ Clancy _ . He paused to point at Ruby, “Go grab him,” before continuing telling everyone what to do.

She left the room without another word, Liam looking longingly after her. When Ruby returned, she was holding Clancy by the collar and half-throwing him out of the window that led to the fire escape. 

We made our way across the railroad tracks lining the LA River. It was dark and quiet, and I almost didn’t notice Cole’s hand shoot upwards to halt us in place. Clancy leaned over Ruby’s shoulder to see what the fuss was but she swatted him away sharply. 

I realised what was happening within seconds.  _ We were not alone _ .


	35. Part Three: Chapter Three

Cole dropped to his stomach on the tracks and everyone else followed suit, Chubs’ muffled voice protesting and asking what was going on. Ruby’s face filled with fear, and she looked at Liam for support who reached over and gave her shoulder a reassuring tight squeeze. Cole motioned us back as Vida pulled out a handgun, dragging Chubs backwards by his shirt. 

The wind was picking up, ruffling my jacket and hair and rattling the tin-like sheets of metal lining the tracks. We moved slowly to not attract attention. I raised my hand to signal something to Cole, but he was facing the other way and before I could catch his eye there was a loud crack— a section of the wall’s metal sliding flew off and flung itself straight towards us as it caught a gust of wind. 

My focus turned to it and I reached for Vida to become blue, but there was no need - at least, no need to hurry. Cole turned towards me and his face changed from shock to relief. Liam’s hand was stretched out towards the huge piece of metal, freezing it in place upright before it could hit the ground and make any more noise. He was struggling, and Chubs moved to help him, but he spoke slowly, his voice strained, “I have it.”

The force of the wind and the way he was exposed to it, Lee was struggling. He didn’t need to stay like that for long, even though I made my way over to him as soon as Cole had motioned that the figures on the freeway— the soldiers— had started to move on. They hadn’t been there to patrol, only to swap out the cars and lights. Once they had disappeared into the early hours of the morning, Cole rose from the ground as his brother thrust the metal sliding over our heads, throwing it into the Los Angeles River’s dry cement bed. He let himself be hauled to his feet by Cole, before pushing him away.

“For someone who sucks so bad at sports, those were some surprisingly decent reflexes,” Cole remarked, smirking slightly but it was clear he was inwardly grateful.

“That must be _thank you_ in a language I don’t speak,” Liam shot back, “Can we get moving?” He resumed his place back by Ruby and she smiled at him, lifting his mood.

I waltzed over to Cole, taking the place next to him at the front as he spoke, “All right. Let’s roll.” 

Once we reached the Glendale area, the sun had finally risen and it cast a glow over us. We managed to make our way over to a parking lot in the deserted part of the outer city. Liam made fast work with the lock on a dark blue sedan with a wire coat hanger he’d brought in the black backpack he kept slung over his shoulder. Cole barely noticed until Liam was bending over the driver’s seat trying to hotwire the car from a panel beneath the dashboard.

I heard Chubs call out, “What? No minivan?” and had to stop myself from laughing. The laughter stopped as soon as it began, memories of being in Black Betty with Lee, Chubs and Zu almost causing my eyes to brim with tears. The disbelieving voice of Cole brought me back to reality as he laughed at the car when the engine spluttered to life. 

“Christ, who the hell taught you that?” 

I didn’t hear the rest of the conversation, distracted by the change in atmosphere as Cole picked at an old wound without realising, Liam’s face growing darker by the minute. I interrupted them before it could escalate, “Lee, that car got any gas in it?”

“Enough to get us a couple hundred miles at most, I’d guess.” He shrugged back, his temper cooling.

“Grand, except we’re not taking that one. There’s a tan SUV over there with your name on it.” Cole shook his head and pointed to the other car.

Liam started to make a case about how the SUV was a gas-guzzler and more likely to roll in an accident, but Cole silenced him before giving him a condescending look. “Are you planning on getting into an accident? Then shut the hell up and do what I tell you—”

“You don’t get to make that call—”

“Yes I do! _I’m_ the one in charge here, whether you—”

I cut in, visibly annoyed by the amount of time taken up in this argument. “For Christ’s sake, you two are seriously pissing me off now. Get a grip. If you’re going to argue at least make it about a topic that’s worth my time. Cole, you know nothing about cars. Admit it. Lee does. I know you’re in charge, but just let it go.”

Liam sent a sneaky grin my way, but I only shook my head in reply. I wasn’t taking sides, I was getting us out of this goddamn city alive. Cole ignored everything I’d just said and made a point of watching as Lee, Chubs and Vi climbed into his chosen SUV. He strode towards a red truck and Ruby followed him, dragging Clancy behind her. I sighed and followed them. God these brothers were _such_ hard work sometimes. 

Cole sorted out Clancy by zip-tying him to the seatbelt and shifted the truck out of park. There wasn’t much room for the four of us, but I squidged in anyway, avoiding the awkward look that I got from Cole about what had just gone down. 

We pulled out onto the road, and I sneaked a quick glance at the SUV behind us, reassured by a wave from Liam and an eye roll from Vida as Chubs explained something with large, over-exaggerated hand gestures.

Clancy broke the silence, eager to have his questions answered. “So,” he began, “how do you hide that you’re red?” He looked straight at me, as if he were trying to read a book, but in another language that he hadn’t quite mastered yet. 

I gave him a quick reply that didn’t reveal too much, leaving him hanging by a thread and waiting for more information. “I pretend to be blue.”

He followed it up with another question, “How can someone _pretend_ to have telekinesis?”

“Like this.” I slammed his head on the dashboard, using the powers I had gained from Vida earlier as a precaution. 

“Fascinating…” he mumbled, blood trickling from a cut on his chin. 

Cole only shook his head. “Aria, please try not to kill him just yet. You’ll have to get in line.”

As we drove through the ghost town that was Burbank, California, the streets were silent and empty without a soul in sight. 

“I don’t like this…” Cole muttered, his eyes were filled with uneasiness. “Make your next right—”

Ruby looked back into the rearview mirror to signal to Liam, and the next thing I knew, I was already reeling back from the force of my head hitting the dashboard, stars blurring my vision. I wasn’t the only one gasping for breath. Clancy was bracing himself with his bound hands and Ruby was struggling with her seatbelt. Unsure of what was happening, I burnt through my own seatbelt, making quick work of it so it was only a few seconds before I was falling out of the truck door and getting to my feet. 

The car had rolled. The tan SUV was upright again and rocking hard against the sidewalk, glass and rubber littering the surrounding area.

  
Three faces, three thoughts, three people I couldn’t lose. I couldn’t think. I could barely breathe. _Liam. Chubs. Vida._


	36. Part Three: Chapter Four

Cole leapt from the truck, his feet barely hitting the ground before his hand tightened into a fist at his side and the car that had hit the SUV burst aflame. The heat and fire decimated the windows of nearby buildings and threw the two soldiers onto the street from the sheer force of the explosion. He was calm and controlled as he moved towards them, making a precise shot between the eyes of the younger of the two soldiers, killing him instantly. Taking large strides towards the second one, Cole ripped away his helmet and slammed his hand repeatedly into his face. 

I was torn. One look at the smoking car containing Liam, Chubs and Vida. Another spared towards Cole, clearly about to do something he’d regret - the rage and fear turning him into a ticking time bomb that could easily take out anything and everything unfortunate enough to be within the two-mile radius. As Ruby ran towards the SUV, I made my choice. 

Doubling back, I made my way towards Cole who was still beating the soldier senseless. I got there just in time as one final shot rang out. His breath was ragged, and his skin had turned to an eerily pale colour, he swayed on his feet. Blood was dripping from one side of his nose - apparently, from a lucky punch that the second soldier had thrown before Cole descended on him. He spun around, before starting to stare, not at— but _through_ the SUV. _Through_ the drivers window where Liam’s limp body was resting. He stumbled forwards, taking a few unsteady steps towards the car. I hesitated, but finally relaxed as Ruby reached through the window to grab and kiss Lee as he turned towards her. 

The smoke from the flaming car was beginning to drift towards us, and I started to cough badly. My chest felt like it was being used as a drum from the inside out, and each breath sounded like a broken maraca being shaken. I tried to wrap my arms around myself for support, but one of my hands came away sticky with blood where a piece of shrapnel had pierced my arm in the explosion caused by the car catching fire. 

“Shit. Aria… shit.” Cole ran his hands through his hair, normally light blonde, it was dark and thick with dirt and dust. “Was that— was it my fault?” He wrapped an arm around me for security and comfort. Despite knowing the truth, I shook my head. 

“No, I think it just happened. Are _you_ okay?” I squeezed one of the hands that was looped over my shoulder with the hand not currently putting pressure on my arm. We were deliberately both not rushing to aid them. Not because we didn’t care - God no! But because we both needed to calm down. A clear head was needed, and that was something currently in short supply. 

After a few brief moments, Cole and I made our way towards the scene. Arms linked supporting him as much as me, I called out, “Everyone alright?”

Chubs was the first to reply, even though he had paled and his voice was shaking slightly, he managed to get out, “We’re okay. Apart from Lee - there’s a high chance his shoulder’s been dislocated. Anyone seen my glasses?” He muttered something else about having not found his glasses since the airbags inflated, and Ruby pulled a face as she pulled what was left of their mangled frames out from the passenger side. 

“What happened?” Vida raised her eyebrows at the flaming car not that far away. “How did—”

Since Cole wasn’t paying attention, too busy trying to get Liam’s door open, I answered for him. “Bullet to the gas tank— lucky shot.” It seemed likely enough, or everyone was too shaken up to question it. Vi noticed Ruby holding up what was left of Chubs’ glasses and sighed, giving him a pat on the shoulder. “Yeah, she’s got them Gran.”

The driver’s door finally opened with a screech of metal and a loud grunt from Cole, but Liam managed to free his foot from where it was pinned under the dashboard. All the while, he clutched his left arm against his side, trying to keep it out of harm’s way. Cole had closed himself off again, but brief worry creased his forehead when he spoke.

“Dammit, you stupid kid. Damn you— how hard is it to not get yourself killed on my watch?”

“Trying”, Liam grunted back. “Christ, that hurts.”

Cole reached out for his brother’s arm, and despite Chubs’ cries of objection, prepared to realign it. The scream of pain following the sound of the realigning pierced my ears and I barely had a second to recover before Vida was barking orders, and looking Chubs’ arm through her own to guide him to the bed of the truck. She was definitely okay, no blood— but she was bruised and what I had thought was a cut on her face was an old wound reopened a few days ago, nothing serious. I finally allowed myself to breathe a sigh of relief. 

Unsteady on his feet but using Cole’s arm for support, Liam was slowly making his way towards the truck. Ruby ran to put her arm around his back, and I could tell it was more to reassure herself than to support him. I joined them walking back, Vida and Chubs already ahead and climbing onto the truck. I reached Cole’s other side just as Liam tilted his head towards Ruby, “Kiss me again.” Ruby needed no prompting and gently pressed her lips to the corner of his mouth. He quickly added afterwards: “Saw my life flash before my eyes. Not enough kissing.” 

His comment caused Cole to let out a short and surprised snort. “Wow, kid. Unusually smooth for you.” I silently chuckled at that, watching as they lifted Liam onto the flatbed next to a tearful Chubs, mourning the loss of his glasses. Lee gave his condolences but was cut off by his friend’s flair for dramatics. 

“ _Prescription_. They were prescription lenses…” He muttered mournfully to himself as Cole pulled the blue tarp and spread it over the top of them. The tarp was coincidentally the same colour as Vida’s hair, and under any other circumstances I probably would’ve mentioned it. 

Once we were all inside, Ruby started up the engine and prepared to outrun the fire that Cole had created, a signal used easily to pinpoint our location. My hand strayed to his, our fingers intertwined. I barely needed to glance back to set the tan SUV alight, covering our tracks as the truck sped away.

It was only when my eyes flashed towards the side to check the mirrors, to check for any sign of a tail did I see Clancy’s smile. The kind of smile that chilled me down to my very core. The kind of smile that gets you places in politics. The kind of smile that when taken the wrong way, has the ability to give a person nightmares. 

Ruby acted fast, and the look of concentration on her face indicated she was trying to stop Clancy from doing something. Cole’s hand tensed in my grip and everything clicked. As I grabbed Ruby’s arm, I took a chance and fired everything I had at Clancy’s mind. He reeled back, surprised at the second attack and looked around. The damage had been done. I had seen what he had seen. _He knew about Cole_. 

“What the fuck…” What had started as a whisper grew in volume with each repetition, Cole’s voice shaking, punctuated by fear. “ _What the fuck?_ ” I could tell that it wasn’t just me who had noticed the smell of smoke pierce the air. I knew that smell all too well. Ruby opened her mouth to speak but I barked out two harsh words, “Keep. Driving.”

Struggling in my seat, I managed to turn myself so I was facing Cole. “Listen to me, you have to calm down okay? Hey— calm down, it’s okay. Cole!” His hands fumbled with the leather case in his lap as he tore out a syringe and a vial of clear liquid, momentarily stunned as he filled it before slamming it down into the back of Clancy’s neck with almost enough force to break it. “ _Cole!_ ” 

“ _Shit_ . That was nothing like at HQ— _shit_!” He practically threw the leather pouch at the dashboard once it was sealed, leaning his forehead against the cool glass of the window. 

Ruby broke the silence. “What did he show you?”

“Myself.”

The conversation went no further.


	37. Part Three: Chapter Five

Cole was muttering to himself, but his hand had found its way to mine once again, and even though it hurt a little, I didn’t mind that he was squeezing it as if his life depended on it. His voice finally returned to its normal volume, asking a direct question this time. “What if he tells any of the others? What am I supposed to do if he tells  _ Liam _ ? No kid will come within a hundred feet of me.”

Ruby and I shared a look before replying. “He won’t.”

Allowing her to resume concentrating on the road, I continued the conversation, aware but not scared of how the palm of Cole’s hand felt like touching hot coals. It didn’t make a difference to me, but I still recognised how much his temperature had spiked since what had happened with Clancy. “How much more of that—” I paused to tilt my head in the direction of the leather pouch— “do you have?”

“Three more vials.”

“Then he can stay like that until we get there,” Ruby cut back in, nodding. “He doesn’t have to have any contact with anyone other than us.”

“Killing him would be simpler.”

“I know.” I laid my other hand over the top of Cole’s in a way that was hopefully comfortingly. 

No one spoke for a while, the only sound being Clancy’s restless snores and the hum of the engine as we drove. Cole’s voice was barely a whisper when the silence was broken. “Are you sure this isn’t a nightmare? And that we won’t just wake up?

I watched as Ruby’s eyes stayed focused on the road. Replying first, “Yes.” I whispered, and she nodded in agreement. The silence screaming what hadn’t been said.  _ Because dreamers always wake up and leave their monsters behind _ . 

~

It was raining when we pulled into the Days Inn to switch cars. It frizzed my hair and dampened my clothes like a shower I hadn’t realised I needed. With Chubs practically blind, Cole was forced to check my injury as the others climbed down from the bed of the truck. Liam and Chubs disappeared around the corner and Vida gracefully slid down from where she’d been standing to talk to Ruby. I tried not to laugh as she told her about how they were entertaining themselves in the back. 

“He was more pissed off by us playing a game of who could think up the worst nickname for him.” Vida leant back and let the rain wash over her face as she spoke.

“Let me guess, you won?” Ruby asked, and I didn’t need to look over to know how sorry she felt for Chubs.”

“It was Boy Scout, actually. Even  _ I _ couldn’t beat Chubby Chubby Choo Choo. I almost pissed my pants laughing.” 

Hearing the nickname out loud, my body shook with laughter— despite Cole’s attempts to hold me still while he removed the shrapnel. No matter how much it hurt, every time I stopped laughing I ended up reimagining the look on Chubs’ face. It was too good.

“Stop laughing!” Cole used one arm to steady me as he pulled out the final part of the metal that had been lodged in my arm, before rinsing it and binding it with a makeshift bandage.

“I can’t help it! This is too good…” I trailed off, tears brimming the corners of my eyes from the constant laughter. He shook his head, flicking droplets of water everywhere and making me smile. Oblivious to the small crowd gathered around one of the walls— Liam, Chubs, Vida and Ruby had been staring at some graffiti for a while now— we let the water cool us down. 

We sat in silence because nothing needed to be said. The water splashed on the ground, surrounding the bench we were sitting on. Even though we were both slowly getting soaked through, it didn’t seem to matter. 

“Everything looks so... calm. In the rain, I mean.” Cole said under his breath, his head leaning against the side of my good arm. “It’s so surreal.”

“I know what you mean,” I whispered back. Letting out a sigh as he pulled me to my feet. We’d have to get going soon.

Cole’s face was home to a cheeky grin as he leant closer to me. “When was the last time you stood in the rain like this?”

“I’m not sure… I haven’t felt this calm in a while.”

He took a step forward, his breath hot on my neck as he murmured something else. “Let me… jog your memory.” From the moment our lips touched, my mind was flooded by the memory of the first time we kissed, in the ring of fire in the pouring rain. It felt like nothing had changed. I ran my hands through his hair, not caring that it was full of dirt as he circled his arms around my waist to pull me closer. 

When we finally broke apart, Chubs and Liam were standing next to us with Ruby and Vida nearby and close to laughter at the collective look shared on the boys’ faces.

“I don’t think I’m going to be able to get used to this.” Liam looked from me to Cole and back again. Chubs stood next to him playing the loyal friend. That is, the loyal friend currently giving disapproving looks in the  _ wrong direction _ . It was too much for Vida and she snorted loudly, leaning against Ruby for support— who was also doubled over in side-splitting laughter.

“Lee, is this going to be a problem?” I raised an eyebrow, folding my arms as I stared him down. 

“Well I mean, you’re my  _ friend _ . He’s my  _ brother _ . It’s just so… weird!” He shuddered, setting off Vida and Ruby once more.

Cole simply shook his head, muttering “Goddamn, kid.” as he made his way towards a white sedan with me in tow. Liam started towards the driver’s side, ready to open the door but Cole stood in his way. “She can drive,” he nodded at Vida. “No attitude. Your shoulder needs rest, and you can swap later.

As we walked towards a blue truck, Cole went on ahead to grab Clancy from the old vehicle and toss him inside the newest one. He began to secure his hands and feet as the bickering broke out over the other car. Liam was arguing that he was fit to drive, even though he wasn’t and Vida was complaining about how she should have been driving in the first place anyway.

I walked towards the passenger side and Cole climbed in after me, leaving Ruby to drive. It was barely ten minutes into the journey before he crashed, his head lolling against the window. He had gone to sleep with his arm around me, and I was nestled under his shoulder comfortably. Ruby was hesitant with the driving, and I kept asking if she wanted me to take over. She only shook her head in response, nodding to my arm. 

After the third time she almost dozed off, I reached out my free hand to grab her wrist. Seconds later, I was in her head. “ _ Stay awake _ ,” I told her. She nodded and continued to drive. With our mental connection, I could see what she was thinking as we drove past more and more of that graffiti, the way her brain pieced it together bit by bit. By the time her brain reached  _ Kylie, Lucy, Zu and Hina _ she was wide awake again, her heart rattling against her chest as if it were trying to break free. As a distraction, she reached over and turned the AC on. I eased myself out of her mind, giving her time to breathe before I started speaking. 

“What is it? The graffiti, what does it mean?”

“It’s road code - something Clancy set up at East River for the kids who left. The letters, I thought it could’ve been Zu.”

“She left East River?”

“Yeah, with her cousin Hina.”

I paused, trying to not get my hopes up too much. “So what you’re saying is… Zu could be at the other end of this trail?”

“Yes.” She took the next right, hesitating as she checked the Sat Nav. “But she might not be.”

“I’m prepared to take that chance, are you?” The possibility of potentially seeing Zu again filled me with excitement and fear.  _ What if she wasn’t okay? _

“What about the Ranch? We’re so close…” She trailed off and I knew what she was thinking.

“Fuck the Ranch. Cole will understand. If we get there a few hours later then so be it. Zu is more important.” 

Ruby smiled, pushing her foot down on the gas pedal. “Let’s go get our girl back.” 


	38. Part Three: Chapter Six

The sudden acceleration jolted Cole awake, and he rubbed his eyes disoriented from the sleep as Vida honked the horn in the car behind us, unsure of the recent change in direction.

“You should have woken me up!” He groaned, looking out the window at the pitch darkness. “Wait… where the _hell_ are we? We’re supposed to be going north, not east.”

“I have a hunch.” Ruby continued to drive. By now, the truck was being attacked from all sides by overgrown tree branches and the tires were running through mud. 

“Yeah, and I have a pain in my ass— surprise! It’s you.” Cole glared at her over the top of me and Clancy’s unconscious body. “What are we doing?”

“Hey!” I tried to elbow some sense into him. “This isn’t all her, I helped make the decision. This is something we need to do, please?”

He sighed as the truck ground to a halt, Ruby swinging the door open as she called back to him. “I think there may be some kids hiding here, I just want to take a look just in case. I _swear_ I’ll be quick.”

“Fine. But take Vida. I’m giving you two minutes.” He rubbed his eyes again and checked Clancy’s ties as I leapt out of the car to join Ruby. 

“Oi Vi!” I shouted across to her, she was still inside the car and the only person currently standing in the rain was Liam. A shared look with Ruby told me my suspicions were correct: _Liam couldn’t know._ _Not yet_. “I need you for something. No, just _Vida_. You guys stay behind.”

Vida climbed out of the car, with an unfortunately hopeful look on her face. “Is it about Cate?”

She was cut off by Chubs’ groan from inside the car. “What thing are we talking about? A Ruby-and-Aria-walk-into-mortal-danger kind of thing?” He took our silence as a yes and slumped back into his seat. “Great. My favourite kind of thing.”

When the door swung open, Vida aimed her gun at… nothing? There was nothing there. No kids, no supplies, _nothing_. Ruby looked around and Vida kicked some trash with her boots. I simply stared at the empty space. _Nothing_. Cole honked the horn and we turned to make our way back to the cars. To go to the Ranch. Possibly without any hope of ever seeing Zu again. It was useless. She had probably never been here in the first place. I _knew_ I shouldn’t have gotten my— or Ruby’s hopes up. 

Vida waved us off as she retreated back towards the other car. Liam and Chubs’ concerned faces poked out of the open door. She was almost back at the car when she paused and bent down at the edge of the driveway. “Hey, boo?” Vi called over to Ruby and tossed her a small white object that was covered in mud. 

It was a small shoe made from a white fabric. Something changed in Ruby’s expression, as if she remembered something but couldn’t quite remember what. The shoe’s laces were shiny and pink, the only part of the shoe that still looked relatively new. I watched as she ran her fingers along the dainty little stitching before placing it back on the ground. 

Cole had moved into the driver’s seat while we were gone, and Ruby nodded as she made her way towards the passenger side. I wasn’t having any of it, and I threw open the driver’s door and raised an eyebrow at Cole.

“What?”

“Move over.” I grabbed the side and half climbed into the car, waiting for him to shift over. He stayed put.

“Not a chance. I’m driving, you’re injured.”

“And you’re tired. Move over.”

“No way!” He folded his arms and leaned back in the seat, getting himself comfortable.

I shook my head, a slow grin spreading across my face. Since he wasn’t going to move himself, I’d have to do it for him. I jumped down from the truck and knocked on the window of the sedan. Vida rolled it down, a sour look crossing her face. 

“What? Don’t we need to get a move on?”

I patted her on the arm as I spoke, “Just wanted to make sure everything is A-Okay in here before we go!” Giving my most angelic of smiles, feeling the telekinesis inside of me, I waltzed over to the truck and opened the door again. 

“Cole Stewart. I’m giving you one last chance to scoot your butt over so I can drive… or you’ll live to regret it.”

“No can do, darlin’.” I have to say, he looked pretty pleased with himself. It was a shame I was about to ruin it. 

With a flick of my wrist, the driver’s seat was empty and I was allowed to slide in while Cole wriggled uncomfortably in Clancy Gray’s lap. He muttered something along the lines of “Bloody telekinesis” as he managed to shove Clancy’s prone form out of the way towards Ruby instead of underneath him. For once, Ruby didn’t mind the contact with Clancy, she was clearly distracted by the annoyance in Cole’s face.

I started the engine, ready to pull out of the driveway when Ruby let out a gasp, and shot from the truck. Ready to follow her, I opened my door— just as the air was punctuated by a gunshot. I hit the ground running and sped into the trees after her, shouting her name and one other.

“RUBY! ZU!”

Cole and the others flew from the cars, guns raised and ready to follow further if needed. I skidded to a stop. “ _Zu! Suzume!_ ” Ruby called out again, she was splattered with mud from running and her hair was frizzy from the rain. 

“Zu…?” My voice was barely a whisper, and as I stood next to Ruby, I felt her hand reach over and clutch my arm for support. Behind us, Cole lowered his gun as Lee came to stand next to him. Ruby turned around, but I stayed staring into the trees. At the space where I hoped Zu would have come running.

I felt Ruby’s grip relax as she turned away to walk towards Liam. I stayed put, for no reason other than the raw hope that rooted me to the spot, searching for a sign. Something, _anything_. The rain mixed with my tears as they fell. Zu, sweet little Zu. In so many ways did she remind me of Jude. I needed her to show me it was going to be okay. Her with her knowing looks and silent laughter, riding in Black Betty with me. I just— I just— my eyes shut for only a second, letting the rain and wave of emotions pass over me. 

I didn’t see her come, but I heard the footsteps as her little form crashed into me, knocking the air from my lungs and squeezing me tight like there was no tomorrow. I opened my eyes as she buried herself in my wet t-shirt, her head nestled under mine. Her body shook as she cried silently. With a strength I didn’t know she possessed, Ruby had joined us and we clutched our tiny friend in relief. 

“You’re here? You’re alive?” I whispered as I held her, feeling comfort in the way she nodded next to me. 

“Oh my god…” Ruby kept repeating. She said the words over and over again in disbelief, and I understood why. I couldn’t believe what was happening. 

Liam ran towards us, tripping over and skidding in the mud until he landed next to us, almost on top. He barely said a word, checking her over for injuries before it was his turn to finally wrap his arms around her. 

Chubs was next, calling out desperately and near-blind. “Is it really her? I can’t see, is she here?” Before he dropped to his knees and got knocked backwards by the force of Zu rushing towards him, the two of them ending up almost lying flat on the ground in the wet mud. “She’s freezing… can we get a blanket over here?” He muttered quietly, as if almost to himself. 

I took in the scene. Liam was helping Ruby from the ground, her clothes stained with mud. Chubs and Zu were in a long embrace, as if the world could longer touch them and Vida looked like she was blinking away tears as the other kids slowly emerged from the trees. I remained sitting on the ground, my tee so wet it was practically transparent, until Cole came over and lifted me up so that I was standing. 

“Shit, you’re soaking.” He proceeded to take off his jacket and offer it to me, ignoring the way I shook my head. Cole wrapped it around my shoulders and it was still warm from being next to his body. He observed the increased number of people and sighed before announcing, loudly, “We’re going to need another car, aren’t we?”


	39. Part Three: Chapter Seven

We followed the kids to their makeshift campsite. Their fires still smoked, but it was only because they’d been smothered at the sound of us arriving. I was holding onto Cole for support and he had an arm wrapped around me comfortingly as Ruby asked Zu and her friends questions about what had happened since they’d last been in contact. 

“What do we do? We can’t just take them with us, they need to know what they’re getting into.” I said to Cole under my breath, low enough so that the others couldn’t hear. 

“Well… Y’all tried.” He sighed loudly, looking at the small camp set up around us before lowering his voice for me. “They need to come, there’s no way they can stay here. It’s not safe.” Before I had a chance to argue, he announced to the group: “Pack up whatever you guys want to bring with you.” 

Lee tried to cut in, outraged, “What? Hold on—” But Cole rolled his eyes and started to explain The League, what it used to be about, and what it is now. Liam gave me a hurt look and mouthed something. I didn’t get it the first time, but it was easier to make it out when he repeated it. “You knew about this?” I had to give a sure nod, avoiding his eyes and instead make my way towards Chubs to stop him from falling over the nearest tree stump.

Chubs was sitting on the wet ground, Zu curled up beside him just like they used to in Black Betty. I sat down next to them, leaning on Chubs and putting an arm around Zu. I was overcome by emotions and Cole’s jacket was soft against my face as I wiped away my tears. While I sat with them, taking in everything that was different about Zu, Cole began explaining in full what would happen if they joined us, spoken to Liam yet at the same time directed at the soon-to-be new additions welcome at the Ranch. 

“If they want to be trained, then we’ll train them. If they want to fight, then who the hell am I to stop them?” His voice was filled with the same passion it always is when he starts speaking about something important to him. Like a raging fire that continues to grow in power, feeding off more and more energy. The kids watching him were his fuel, the more they seemed to believe in what he was talking about, the more animated he became. 

Ruby pulled Lee to the side, trying to convince him that this was the best option. In reality, it was. Cole had finished speaking, but he was still eager as he helped the other kids pack their stuff away. Chubs got up to find Vida, somehow making his way back through the trees towards the cars.

It wasn’t long before we followed him, and as soon as I saw Vi I knew something was up. She was leaning against the side of the truck and her eyes gave away nothing but bitterness. Chubs was hovering next to her awkwardly, looking at the ground and unbuttoning and buttoning up his top button repeatedly and smoothing his collar down. This clearly wasn’t good, she wasn’t even joking about how he might accidentally do more damage than good to his one remaining decent shirt. Ruby took a step forward to introduce her to Zu but barely got a word in before Vida’s viper quick mouth was already spitting not-very-well-hidden acidity towards them both. 

“Right, can we leave this fucking dump now?” She marched off to the car and got in, slamming the driver’s door behind her. Zu went over to Chubs and wrapped her arms around his waist and Liam and Ruby were looking confused at the spot where Vida had been. 

I tried to brush it off as tiredness, but I couldn’t seem to shake the feeling that _something wasn’t right_.

~

The sun started to rise in the early hours of the morning as we finally reached Lodi. I turned off the engine of the truck and woke up Ruby, who had been sleeping on and off for the last four hours. Cole lifted a hand from where he was checking Clancy’s ties and to point to one of the warehouses. “There.”

My hands briefly clenched the wheel as I whispered to him, careful to not attract the attention of Ruby who was shaking off the grogginess that comes after an interrupted sleep. “Do you… do you think Cate and the others made it?”

“We’re about to find out.” He leant over me to open the door, before reassuring Ruby that we could leave Clancy here until a room had been set up for him. The used car dealership that we’d parked the cars in was near a bar - Smiley’s. Half asleep, I almost tripped in an attempt to get out of the truck and had to be grabbed from behind by Cole. He wrapped a protective arm around my waist as he tried the door to the bar. Ruby was being propped up by Liam and they were having a conversation in hushed voices towards the back of the group. 

Chubs seemed to see that this was a bar, and being Chubs, he asked “Is this a bar? Are we allowed in? We’re not twenty-one.” 

Vida sighed and put a hand on his shoulder to direct him. “Oh, Grannie. I can’t even.”

The door to the bar was locked, and Ruby leant forwards to ask something. “Are we breaking in?” 

He shook his head, stepping down from the curb and tilting his head towards the alley between the pub and the empty building behind it. “Nah, I was just making sure they still used the old bar as a front. The entrance is actually around here.” 

The alley was littered with crates and garbage cans, and a loud crash followed by swearing told everyone that Chubs had fallen into something and brought Vida down with him. Cole continued until he reached a back door, and after pressing a code into a keypad, it opened to reveal an ordinary-looking back room with shelves lining each wall. 

“Please don’t tell me this is another underground tunnel,” I said jokingly, though my hand had tensed on Cole’s jumper and my head had begun to pound with thoughts about last time. The escape. The rubble. The claustrophobia as everyone tried to get out. _Jude_. My breath hitched in my throat and he noticed, tightening his hold on me before whispering into my ear. 

“I’m here. I’m not going anywhere. Hold on to me,” before turning his attention to the rest of the group. “Right, it’s a long way down so before we go I want to ask - anyone afraid of the dark? Heights? Nah, we good? Okay, just be careful then.”

In order to get to the trap door that led to the tunnel, everyone had to fit inside the small bedroom behind the bar and lift the furniture from on top of it. Air whistled out once it was open, cold and unwelcoming. Closing my eyes for a minute, I took a deep breath before nodding to Cole that it was okay to continue. He disappeared down the ladder, and I counted to ten in my head before attempting to follow him.


	40. Part Three: Chapter Eight

The cement-walled tunnel was seemingly never-ending. It was lit by sections of half-functioning strings of Christmas lights. The walls were narrow and the low ceiling only amplified the fact that the walls felt as if they were closing in. Shutting my eyes only made it worse, so instead I focused on Cole’s voice as he purposefully narrated every move to give me something to listen to rather than my own ever-consuming thoughts. 

By the time we finally reached a half flight of stairs, Zu was passed out against Liam’s back, her arms wrapped around his neck loosely. Cole banged on what looked like a door, slamming his fist against it repeatedly but there was no reply. Ruby’s face was overcome with fear, as some of the kids behind us pushed forwards to bang against the metal with him. She took a step backwards, and Lee had to grab her to stop her from falling back down the stairs.

I started to panic, but my thoughts were interrupted by the door slowly swinging open and filling the tunnel with a blindingly bright light. Cole greeted Dolly before turning around and kissing me softly. “This is it,” he whispered. “We’re finally here.” The tiredness was overwhelming, but I kissed him back leaning into his arms more than I intended as my legs gave way. “Honestly, am I going to have to carry you?” The corners of his mouth turned up in a smile as he looked from me to Liam and caught on. He turned around and I hopped on his back, squeezing tight and getting myself comfortable. 

Dolly ushered us all in, before looking us up and down. Pausing between Cole and Liam, before sighing loudly. “Another one of you? How has the world survived?”

“Pure, dumb luck,” Cole grinned. “Did everyone make it, are they all here?”

“Well… not _exactly_ ,” Dolly hesitated. 

“Cate?” Her name slipped from Vida’s mouth in a tidal wave of hope. 

“Conner’s fine. She’s been worried _sick_ about you lot!”

I let out a breath I hadn’t even realised I’d been holding. As we followed Dolly, Cole asked more questions. “What do you mean not exactly?” The conversation was brought to an abrupt halt as Cate rounded the corner at breakneck speed, and the only person who reacted fast enough was Vida, who slammed into her with a hug so powerful it could have knocked a planet out of orbit. I didn’t need to look at Ruby to know what she was thinking. _Cate still didn’t know about Jude._ Liam held Ruby as she turned her face away, holding back tears and I used my sleeve to wipe away my own, trying not to lose my balance. 

“Hey, Gem. Can you come for a little bit? I want to give Cate a full debrief if that’s okay.” Cole called over to her. Ruby nodded, said something to Lee and followed us into the room on the left of the tunnel’s opening. Vida’s voice rang out above all the others, and I watched wordlessly as Ruby quietly shut the door behind her.

As it turned out, Sen and the others that Ruby had influenced — Cole hadn’t noticed the glare I shot him, he meant to tell me about that but never got around to it — called the agents at the Ranch and told them we were going to Kansas. So they took pretty much everything with them that they could, including blankets, food and supplies. 

“They were going to split the kids up between the cars, take them just far enough outside LA to think they were safe, and then turn them in for the reward money.” Ruby folded her arms, and the room went silent. Cate paled and Vida stopped pacing. It wasn’t long before the conversation continued to a crescendo before turning into a shouting match. I didn’t know where to look. Ruby was trying to get Cate out of denial, and Vida looked like a bomb about to explode at the next wrong word. 

“How about Rob? He _hunted_ us. He put a _muzzle_ on me!” 

The silence returned, and it stayed. Vida was frozen and pale, unable to back Cate against the truth. The last person to have made any noise was me, the moment Ruby mentioned the muzzle I drew in a sharp and audible breath. If he wasn’t already dead, I would have been on the warpath. 

Cate’s voice was almost a whisper, yet it seemed to fill the room. “Dolly and I will leave in the morning. We might be able to catch up to them.”

So that was that. She didn’t meet my eyes as she left. As the door was about to close, I heard something in the hallway and stuck my hand out to stop it. In the hallway were the exhausted faces of eight kids and Senator Cruz. 

I tapped Cole’s shoulder and he put me down to greet them. The wall was cold, and I woke up a little leaning against it. Vida appeared behind me, and Ruby to her left - neither of them said a word. Zach, a leader from one of the League’s Blue teams was rolling on the balls of his feet and looking around at the accommodation, running a hand through his dark hair. 

Nico was the complete opposite of Zach. Where he was calm and collected, confident, Nico was… _falling apart_. Like a sweater, when you pull one thread and the whole thing just _unravels_ , the moment he saw Cate he began to sob. Even when she pushed past everyone to get to him, he broke down. Cruz tried to comfort him until Cate got there, but out of the corner of my eye, I saw Ruby leave. I knew why. Part of me wanted to go to Nico, but the other part just wanted to shut down. 

It took all of my remaining energy to follow Ruby down the corridor, and even then I didn’t make it to the room where all the muffled voices were coming from. Instead, I slid down the wall onto the floor and closed my eyes. Just for a minute. Then I’d go inside. _Just for a minute_.


	41. Part Three: Chapter Nine

I woke up in a room that was definitely _not_ where I had fallen asleep. And it had definitely _not_ been ‘just a minute’. I was half in, half out of a sleeping bag with Cole’s jacket no longer around me, but tucked neatly under my head as a makeshift pillow. As I sat upright, I unfolded it and slipped my arms into it. With nothing to do, I let my mind wander for a few minutes and take in every detail of the room. For one, it was missing a light bulb. And half a door handle. _And_ it looked as if the radiator had been torn off the wall in a hurry. _Classy_. 

Since that got boring quickly, I slipped my legs out of the sleeping bag and gingerly walked over to where my shoes were, before pulling them on and taking a look outside. No one was about. Untying and redoing my hair as I walked, I found myself wandering the corridors and familiarising myself with the Ranch. 

Where some areas of HQ looked like it had been thrown together in a hurry, the Ranch was similar and yet very, _very_ different. It looked as if it had been put together, and then left for a decade to gather dust and fall apart again. And then robbed of most of its functioning light bulbs. 

Somehow I found my way to what appeared to be the kitchen. It was filled with people running about, and Lee appeared to be organising everything. I hovered in the doorway, watching him work. As always, he was taking everyone’s suggestions into heart as he counted the light bulbs and cans of beets. While I watched, I realised how hungry I actually was. 

A hand was placed on my shoulder, and I turned around to see Cole. 

“Afternoon, beautiful.” He planted a light kiss on my forehead. 

“Hold up there, _afternoon_? What time is it?” 

He laughed, and leaned closer to me to whisper a reply. “About half-past one.” Cole led me towards his bag where there was the remains of a few of the supplies from the journey here. He passed me a small box of twinkies which I opened as we walked. 

“Shit, no wonder I was so hungry!”

“Figured. I’ve got to deal with Clancy, you coming?”

“Sure.”

We walked and talked before we reached the room where Clancy was being held. And then it hit me.

I sank to the floor, unable to get the words out of my mouth. _Cate. She left that morning. I missed her._

“Aria? Aria, talk to me. Hey, it’s okay. I’m here.” He pulled me into the nearest room and closed the door softly behind us.

My sobs echoed off the walls, practically magnifying the sound as I choked. “I— I missed C— Cate, didn’t I?”

Silence.

“ _D— Didn’t I?_ ” 

“Shit… I’m so sorry. I should’ve woken you, this is my fault. I just found you passed out in the hallway and thought you needed some rest. I completely spaced that she was going this morning. It’s not like she wanted me to be there.”

Cole put his head in his hands and sighed.

“No, it’s not your fault. I should’ve been up! I should’ve been helping you sort everything out! Oh god… do you think she’s mad?”

“Honestly?” He ran his hands through his hair. “I think she’s more disappointed with Ruby. Who, _for the record_ , is still asleep.”

I pulled myself to my feet, wiping the leftover tears of my unexpected breakdown from my eyes and offered Cole a hand up. “Right. Clancy?”

“Yeah. Let me show you where I put him.” He sighed, taking my hand and leading me to the room. He pulled on part of a bookshelf and revealed a secret passage with blinding automatic lights bright enough to make me see stars once we got through the second locked door - which was protected by an access code and a key. 

He hovered by the door. “Take a look, make sure everything’s okay in there? I already changed his sweats.” 

His uncertainty made me worry, but since last time Clancy had angered me it hadn’t gone _that_ well for him I was allowed to help with his management. According to Cole, everyone who had ‘management privileges’ of Clancy had to _always_ take someone with them to watch their back. There were only six of us in total. Cole and I, Ruby, Vida, Chubs and Cate… when she gets back.

Everything seemed okay, Clancy was passed out on his cot with a hand thrown over his face like an overdramatic faint. The plastic toilet wasn’t leaking, and the bucket of water for things like washing and brushing teeth was full. Nothing out of the ordinary. So, I turned to leave.

But something held me in place. It was as if my body was frozen, unable to move or call out for help. Just stand. And wait. I knew what was happening, and yet I couldn’t fight it. Clearly, Clancy wanted to have a little chat. My suspicions were confirmed with one word. 

  
“ _You._ ”


	42. Part Three: Chapter Ten

“I thought you were red, yet you also used telekinesis. So, blue? No, because you fired shots at my mind more precise than _Ruby_ ever could. Orange? Yellow? Green? _What are you_ _?_ You’re almost like a _ghost_ …”

Clancy circled me, like an eagle zeroing in on its prey. As it turned out, he was not asleep. He was also capable of putting more than one person in this paralysed state, shown by the look of fear on Cole’s face from just outside the door as he watched us. He lifted my arm up, spun me around, inspecting me like a toy he wanted to take apart. 

Arm. Physical contact. Orange. I planted one single thought in his head, a question. _If you release me, I’ll tell you._ Moments later, my muscles relaxed and I was able to move. The first thing I did was take a deep breath before closing myself off from him and crossing to the door. 

“Aria Stacey. 19. Indigo. Black Rock, transferred to Leda Corp facility G. Would’ve come to East River had you not joined the League. _Slowly dying from Carbon Monoxide poisoning_. It’s amazing what you can get for just a few minutes of distraction, isn’t it?”

I froze, this time of my own accord. If Clancy knew everything, then that could only mean… 

“What do you want from me?” 

“An explanation. Your story is an interesting one, and I heard rumours about you while I was running East River. Only when I tried to investigate, _you didn’t exist_. I suggest you start with the part about you being an Indigo?” He sat back down on the cot, leaning back slightly and smirking. I was cornered. Yes, there were options— but none I could take. Faced with a guy who practically feeds from knowledge, and if he wasn’t so manipulative probably could’ve been a green in another life, I had to share my story.

“Indigo. This means I’m red, orange, yellow, green and blue. I can be any, depending on the circumstances.” I decided to open the door anyway, a plan forming in my mind. There were ways for me to get around this… _obstacle_. Someone, somewhere once said, _If you want the path of roses, you have to deal with the thorns_ , or something or other similar to that. Well, to hurt this rose, you definitely have to get stabbed by a couple of thorns. At the back of my mind, I felt him try to stop me leave but I only continued to close the door behind me. 

One look back. One easy way around this. 

I let him in, I let him see a happy memory— just for an _instant_. Before making my way into his mind while he was distracted. _Sleep_. He fell back on the cot, his hand hitting the wall a little too forcefully— but not too forcefully for me to care. Unconscious, he released Cole, who leaned on the wall gasping for breath. 

“ _Shit._ Aria, what happened in there? Are you okay? Did he try anything? I swear to fucking god if he—” I cut him off, wrapping my arms around him and relaxing us both.

“I’m fine, I swear.” I took one look back at Clancy, resting peacefully on his cot. You could say I was admiring my handiwork - after all, it’s amazing what you can do with a few minutes of distraction, _isn’t it?_ ” 

~

Cole had to sort out something to do with weapons, so by three, I found myself helping Lee in the kitchen, organising what little food we had. He was in the pantry, flashlight between his teeth, while I was cleaning one of the stoves. I heard Ruby before he did, and quickly intercepted her for a little chat before she saw him.

“Roo? Can we talk, real quick?” I put an arm around her and guided her back out into the hallway, where we could talk in private.

“Sure, but I sort of wanted to—” 

“I know, but trust me - Lee isn’t going _anywhere_. He’s been complaining about the light bulbs for _hours_.” I laughed, and she smiled, obviously thinking of him. “Now… I have a favour I have to ask, and there’s no one else who can really do this… and you’re probably not going to like it.”

“You’re _really_ filling me with confidence here,” she raised an eyebrow at me.

“Ha! Yeah… uh… I need you to… well, you see…” I took a deep breath. “Ineedyoutoerasepartofclancysmemory.”

“Sorry, what?” The eyebrow got higher, if that’s even possible.

“Ah, I’ll slow down. Uhh, I need you to erase part of Clancy’s memory.”

“No way! But _why_?” Ruby took a step back, arms raised defensively. “Seriously, no.”

Unfortunately, that gave me no choice except to explain the earlier incident. Concisely. Revealing as little information as possible. “He saw something… a lot of things… in my mind. That he shouldn’t have, basically. And it’s not good if people know. So, please?”

She dragged a hand through the bottom of her hair before twisting it around her finger. “I’ll think about it.” Before going to meet Lee. 

Sure enough, it wasn’t long before I heard “Why in the _world_ did they have to take the light bulbs too?” And Ruby erupted into hysterical laughter.

~

I found Cole in Alban’s old office, the room we’d argued with Cate in when we first arrived. He was bent over something— a map.

“Hey.” I shut the door behind me, hoping for a distraction. Instead, it appeared that Cole needed the distraction more than I did, as he barely noticed me come in. “Hello?” Still no answer, he was muttering to himself slightly. “Cole?”

He jerked upright, close to falling off his chair as he realised it was me. “Jesus, how long have you been standing there?”

“Long enough to see that you need to be doing anything other than this. Come on.” I led him out of the room into one of the long corridors, refusing to let go of his hand until he promised not to go back to his map. 

I stumbled across an empty room earlier, not used for anything so when I had a spare minute I dragged some gym mats into it. It was in the far side of the Ranch where we wouldn’t be disturbed and it was big enough to spar in, but not big enough to train properly in. I brought Cole in and closed the door behind us, wrapping my hands with tape before we started.

“Right,” I threw him the tape winking. “If you can beat me, you can go back to staring at that precious map of yours, deal?”

“Fine. Deal.” He grinned back at me. “Don’t you dare go easy on me.”

Cole threw a punch and I ducked, bouncing back up instantly to sail a kick that barely missed his head. He caught my next punch, before using his grip on my arm to spin me around so that I was facing away from him, and wrapping his arms around me from behind so that I couldn’t move. Or so he thought. I hooked my leg behind one of his, catching it and ducking out of the hold. 

He regained his balance and wiped a bead of sweat from his forehead, one side of his mouth curving up into a devilish smile. “At least _try_ to get a hit in.”

“Oh, _please_! I’ve been wanting to kick your ass all week.” I retorted as we circled each other. Just like old times. Almost. 

I almost didn’t see his leg as it swept under my feet, knocking me flat on the mat. “You were saying?” he teased playfully, admiring his handiwork from above. I rolled my eyes and used my current position to use a similar move on him, so he ended up lying on the ground next to me. 

“Losing your touch, are you Golden Boy?” 

With our faces inches apart, all thoughts of sparring were forgotten as he pulled me on top of him. Our bodies entwined as I tore the tape from my hands, allowing myself to run them through his soft blond hair. Caught up in the moment, neither of us noticed that we were no longer the only people in the room. 

Chubs coughed audibly to announce his presence before gracing us with a _very_ disapproving look through his new glasses. 

“If I walk in on ONE more couple…” He trailed off, trying to remember what he was supposed to be saying. “Right, uhhh… you said you wanted everyone somewhere for a meeting? We’ve sort of all bundled into a room and we’re waiting for you guys to get your shit together and tell us what we’re doing?”

“Aha. Thanks, Chubs.” I nodded and he scuttled out of the room without a goodbye, most likely going to the meeting point. I rolled onto my back, flat on the mat and flipped myself upright while Cole did the same. He chucked the tape into a bin in the corner and put an arm around me. 

“You’re right, I have _definitely_ missed our training sessions.” 

I shook my head, laughing and leaning into him. With everything all hectic trying to make the Ranch inhabitable, I was glad that I had something constant. Something I’d brought with me all the way from LA HQ. _Him_.


	43. Part Three: Chapter Eleven

“Run that by me again, what do you mean _they’ve left_?” Cole’s hand clenched and unclenched at his side as he spoke, the only break in his calm exterior. 

“They’ve left so that we wouldn’t goddamn _starve_ , that’s why!” Chubs snapped back at him.

I scanned the room to see exactly who had gone. According to Ruby— who had practically turned _grey_ , she was so shocked— it was only Liam, Kylie and some kid called James. _For Christ’s sake Lee, what were you thinking?_

There were barely even minutes spent arguing over the fact that the three had gone out for supplies and not told anyone. Cole nudged Ruby, and she smoothly redirected the conversation back towards the task at hand, the cure. I barely listened as she informed the kids about what had happened to the flash drive, and what precautions we had taken to ensure that Lillian Gray’s research was secured. At the same instant she said Clancy’s mum’s name, a memory appeared in my mind… but it wasn’t mine? 

Ruby had planted a message, a conversation for me. It was a response to the favour I had asked her. _It’s done. It’s done. It’s done. You owe me one_ , replayed on a loop inside my head. She risked a glance back at me, and I beamed at her, mouthing _‘thank you’_. I was about to make an excuse to talk to her since she’d finished speaking to the group but Ruby was quickly whisked away by Chubs for what seemed to be a serious conversation.

~

It was an hour, just like the others had said, before Liam and the other two appeared at the entrance of the tunnel with supplies. They each dragged either a plastic tub or a large cardboard box filled to the top. I heard their voices along the corridor before I saw them. Their laughter told me that they _clearly_ didn’t know what was waiting for them. 

The first person around the corner was Lee, he was messy and covered in dust, carrying a large overflowing box. Ruby sighed in relief, while Cole let out a noise of exasperation. The whole time we had been waiting, his breathing had become harsher and he had been unable to stay still. Either pacing or changing his arm position— folded across his chest, in his pockets, running through his hair, he hadn’t stopped moving.

I saw it coming, and yet I was a fraction of a second too late. The box in Lee’s hands fell to the ground, sending cans and packets exploding everywhere littering the ground with a layer of unopened food. Cole had his brother by the collar, slammed against the wall to wind him before dragging him into Alban’s old office. 

This was going to be _carnage_. “Oh HELL no.” I put my foot in the way of the door, sliding in next to Ruby and slamming it behind me. Liam had basically been thrown into the large desk at an awkward angle and was currently gasping for breath.

“What. The _hell_. Is your. _Problem_?” The brothers were staring each other down, mirroring the other’s movements and it was almost impossible to tell who was who. 

“Are you really that _stupid_?” Cole fired back, like a bomb about to explode. 

Liam shoved Cole back against the empty bookshelf, and I heard something crack as he slammed into it. He held an arm across his brother’s chest, pinning him there. 

“Why are you acting like you actually care?” 

“You have no idea what I’m thinking,” Cole snarled, throwing Liam off of him. “You _really_ want to know? Sure, I can tell you. I was thinking _how am I going to tell Mom another one of her kids is dead?_ ” Liam took a step back, leaning on the desk, the colour had drained out of him and he looked as if he were about to topple over. Still, Cole continued. “You remember? You made _me_ tell her? You couldn’t stop crying, you refused to even leave Claire’s goddamn room. _I_ was the one who had to tell her she didn’t need to make that day’s packed lunch. _I had to tell her._ God, do you even know what that was _like_?”

Ruby’s hand flew to her mouth, and I stood and stared. This was escalating more than it should. Like, _a lot_ more than it should. Liam’s face, stricken, disappeared behind his hands as he spluttered out a response. “Sorry— God, I didn’t— I just— _shit_.”

There was angry, and then there was a line. A line that shouldn’t have been crossed. Cole practically skipped over that line and fucking set _fire_ to it. His face was cold, and his eyes were worse. “The _only_ reason you’re still here is that I can’t find a way to ship you straight to Mom and Harry, because I don’t even know where they— _what?_ ” 

Liam was never able to hide his feelings, everything registered on his face, if only for a second. His heart and soul were read in his emotions, and at the moment he looked up— the _very moment_ Cole mentioned their parents— it was clear. Liam knew where they were, and Cole didn’t. 

“You lied to my _goddamn_ face!” The hit exploded against Liam’s jaw. Liam drew his arm back to throw a punch and suddenly Ruby was between them, catching his fist before it reached Cole’s stomach. His face went from anger to shock, and quickly to fear as he recognised what had just happened. “Oh my god… why did you— I could’ve— that was so stupid— shit…” Lee’s face took on an expression that could only be known as shame. Ruby put her arm around him and I watched as she argued a deal between them. Liam was to be Quartermaster, in charge of all food and supplies. It seemed to be a pretty reasonable trade in exchange for information about the whereabouts of his parents, which Cole undoubtedly wanted. 

I turned around, picking up a few small objects that had fallen from the desk when we came in, before placing them on the side. Something Liam had said caused Ruby to take a step backwards and that gave Cole an opportunity to stand directly in front of him. 

“Well,” Cole started, “My qualifications for being in charge? For one, I never got a hundred and five kids killed with a poorly planned and executed escape attempt—”

“Out of line,” Ruby warned him.

“—from a camp that wasn’t even that bad in the first place.” 

The final straw. Cole went flying through the air even before Lee’s hand was raised, pinning him to the back wall. He stormed towards him, Ruby hot on his heels. She was moved out of the way by Liam again, but she stood by his side and glared at Cole. 

“The fact that you can even possibly consider _any_ camp to be ‘not even that bad’ shows you have absolutely NO idea what you’re talking about.” She folded her arms and didn’t even bother to try and step between them this time.

Despite Liam’s attempt to pin him to the wall, Cole slowly raised a fist. It was finally my turn to stand in the middle of them. 

“ENOUGH.” I grabbed Lee’s arm, pushing him backwards along with Ruby so that we were on opposite sides of the room. My other hand was out towards Cole, keeping him from advancing any further. “You two are fucking ridiculous. You can get along, or not - I don’t really care at this point, but I draw the line _here_. Either of you try that shit again and I swear— I swear to _God_ you’ll regret it. Understood?” 

Nobody moved.

“I _said_ ,” raising my voice a little louder, “Is that _fucking_ clear?”

The boys nodded. Liam walked towards Cole, but he couldn’t get past me. His voice was shaking and so was he. Cole wiped sweat, dust and a dribble of blood from his lip before struggling to his feet. “You want to punish me? Fine. Name it. I’m done with you wasting my time.” 

Cole was quick to answer, “Clean the bathrooms. With bleach.”

“Already done,” Liam smirked as he replied, an expression I’d only seen on Cole before.

“Clear out the backup in the sewage system.”

“ _Already. Done.”_

“Laundry by yourself for a month.”

“Have you already forgotten? You let them steal all of the sheets and bedding.”

Cole let out a slow, long, frustrated breath. “Then you can clean out and organise the garage.”

Ruby, Lee and I were surprised by this. _Since when did this place have a garage?_

“The what?” Ruby raised her eyebrows at him.

“The _what?_ ” I echoed her.

Liam was too stunned to say anything as Cole left the room and we followed him down to the kitchen. He dragged the shelves that house the pots and pans away from the wall, and the metal screeched along the floor. A hidden door.


	44. Part Three: Chapter Twelve

“ _Another_ hidden door,” Ruby rolled her eyes, her face a picture of exasperation, “Really?”

“Hang on,” Liam looked around, “There are _others_?”

Cole sighed, “It’s not _hidden_. It’s just not used. It ended up being used for storage, and no one really went in there. I thought it would make a good emergency exit, so we also need to make sure the kids all know where it is.”

The lights flickered on, and revealed… you have _got_ to be kidding. _Another concrete tunnel_. Ahead of the others, Cole sensed my hesitation. “It’s not far, don’t worry.”

It was only a five-minute walk door-to-door. There were stairs which meant that we were heading above ground. _Good_. The door at the top had obviously been shut a while, as Cole had to drive his shoulder into it in an attempt to get it out of the frame. He stumbled through with the remaining force from opening it. 

The large warehouse surprisingly did actually house a few cars, but they’d been stripped almost completely apart for supplies. Liam’s eyes sparkled as he looked around, it was clear he saw some sort of potential for this place. He raced over to a nearby pile of bikes and carefully worked his way through their mangled frames to get to something underneath that had apparently piqued his interest. His hands were practically shaking with excitement as he began to brush away the dust and dirt covering the bike’s sleek body. 

Ruby called out, “Cole! He can’t do this by himself, this is a huge job!”

“Obviously,” Cole hollered back. “Get your asses over here!”

He was standing in front of a stack of pallets towering at a height almost taller than us. 

“What are these?” I picked one of the small boxes up and turned it over in my hands. 

“Humanitarian rations,” Ruby replied, taking the package from me and having a closer look for herself. “Do you know what country they’re from?”

Cole was surprised, he asked “You’ve seen these before? We didn’t even get any of this sent to HQ, the government has this stuff under lock and key.”

Ruby took a step closer to the pile, and I didn’t need to see her face to know what she was thinking of. I’d heard about this story before. “Nashville. The military was using an old airport hangar to house food and medical supplies.” 

I’d heard about this from Vida. How Ruby got stabbed. How Jude bravely risked his life to use his powers to knock out the soldiers. How if they hadn’t gotten the supplies, Lee might have died. _He might have died._ I shuddered at the thought. He didn’t die, so there’s no point in thinking like that. It won’t help anyone. 

“Right,” Cole sighed, “Based on all the plans people have come up with for the camp hit, we’re going to need at least another two dozen kids, maybe more. If anyone has any bright ideas on how to find ‘em, I’m all ears.”

Ruby sighed, and we all turned to face her. “Actually, I think I do.”

~

Later that day, I was walking along the corridor looking for Cole. He and Ruby disappeared not too long ago with the password to Clancy’s server to find notes on the whereabouts of all the tribes that had left East River and the plans for Thurmond. The only problem was, I couldn’t for the life of me remember which room they were in. 

I almost collided with Nico as he shot around the corner, out of breath and looking like he wanted to be anywhere other than here. I put out an arm to stop him, grabbing onto the side of his tee before he could go any further.

“Hey, what’s up?”

“I just— nothing. Nothing. I’m fine.” I saw through the charade immediately, having pretty much perfected the “I’m fine” façade. It was easy to notice how much he was shaking, and how the natural colour in his face had faded— definitely not from lack of sunlight at the Ranch, but from fear, and something else… shock maybe?

“Come on,” tugging on his shirt again, I pulled him into a nearby room. Yet another room that we didn’t seem to have a use for, just sitting there empty. “Talk to me.”

“It’s— they’re— I can’t—” He could barely get his words out. “Thurmond. LA. It’s just—”

“ _Breathe_.” 

Then, he started to cry. I wrapped my arms around him, unsure of what else to do. He was taller than he seemed, that kid. When the sobs subdued slightly, I held Nico at arm's length to let him speak. “They’re closing Thurmond. We’ve not got much time. Ruby said something and I just—” he took another deep breath— “She said something about kids not having anything in LA to go back to, and it made me think of…” His lip wobbled, and for a moment I thought Nico was about to burst into tears again. He waited, steadied himself and finished. “Jude.”

I nodded. Everything that reminds me of LA, reminds me of HQ. Everything that reminds me of HQ, reminds me of the time I spent with Jude. The laughter, the games, the endless games of Cheat. _Cheat_. That’s it!

“You still got that pack of cards?” 

“Yeah, why?”

“Fancy a game of Cheat?” I grinned.

“You know what, Aria? Yeah, I do.” He smiled back, and for what seemed like the first time in ages, we stopped by his room to grab the cards, before heading towards an empty table by the dining area to play. Vida was walking past with Zu, and they paused next to us. I looked at Nico for confirmation and he nodded. 

“Hey, Vi. Want to join?” I patted the seat next to me and however much she fought it, the corners of her mouth turned upwards.

“Well, I suppose I’ve got time for one game. Can Z play too? I don’t mind teaching her.”

To my surprise, Nico agreed. We had the most energetic game of Cheat in a long time, Zu hitting one of us in the arm each time she caught us cheating was probably one of my favourite parts. 

We were playing because it was fun. We were playing to keep ourselves sane.

_We were playing for Jude._

~

The meeting dragged on. We all sat in the room as Cole explained how the two camp hits were going to go down, and how we planned to locate the tribes. Chubs, as per usual, was asking lots of questions but for once Cole had answers for all of them. Everyone was pretty chill until Liam started arguing with his brother again. This time, it was something about Lee wanting to use the first camp hit to get information to spread the word about how bad the camps actually were. I wasn’t sure how he thought it would work, as Grey has most news websites, blogs and social media monitored to make sure that this didn’t happen. 

I was distracted, barely paying attention. The only thing my mind seemed to be able to focus on was a buzzing fly that had somehow found its way into the crowded room. It settled on the wall, and I tracked it as it flew from there to the opposite side of the room. It was about to take off again when everyone’s eyes fell on the back of the room as Nico’s chair fell with a loud crash. There wasn’t a single person who didn’t jump at the unexpected crash as it hit the ground. He took two steps backwards before his knees gave way and he slumped to the floor. Ruby caught him, grabbing his arms and trying to get him to talk. 

“What? Nico, what happened?” 

What came out of his mouth next almost didn’t sound human. Nico sobbed, barely able to get his words out. “Cate,” He said to Ruby. “ _They took Cate._ ”


	45. Part Three: Chapter Thirteen

“What do you mean they took Cate? Nico, tell me what you know.” I tried my best to stay calm, unlike Vida. Vi had to be physically restrained by Chubs to stop her from smashing the only laptop we had against the desk that Nico had come from. Ruby paled, and Liam moved to keep her upright. Cole was running his hands through his hair, muttering— no, _swearing_ under his breath. 

_They took Cate_. And it’s our fault for letting her leave in the first place. _Okay, can we panic now?_

“This is on you, asshole!” Vida screamed at Cole, trying to break free from Chubs as he held her arms to her sides. “You goddamn son of a bitch!” Zu grabbed his glasses as they fell from his face so they wouldn’t get crushed as Vida struggled in his grip.

Ruby took two paces towards the computer and the instant she saw the news screen her hand flew to her mouth. I moved to stand by her side, clicking the play button since she didn’t seem to be able to bring herself to do it. The headline rang out _Children’s League Agents Captured in Colorado_. Taking a deep breath, I turned back to talk to her. Only, Ruby was already out the door. 

“Fuck you, Stewart!” Vida’s voice echoed throughout the room, and I noticed a couple of the younger kids wince at the anger behind it, as Lee and Chubs slowly ushered them out of the room. Cole disappeared after Ruby, and I was left in the room as Nico shook against the wall with Vida pacing next to him, her hands clenched in fists so tight they were sure to leave nail-marks in her palms. I looked around at them. At the talking in hushed voices. At the face Vi was making as a signal she really didn’t want to be talked to. At the people I loved, falling apart. 

I couldn’t be here anymore.

The door swung open before I even reached it and slammed behind me the second I was through. I didn’t stop moving until I was at the passageway we entered through, my decision made for me as it shut. The lights flickered and I fought back tears as I stumbled down it. When I emerged from the bedroom, I walked straight out and around to the bar, the fact that the door was locked barely slowed me down at all. The door was stuck slightly, but the force I used opened it effortlessly and there wasn’t even time to bother with dusting off the old bar stool before collapsing into it. 

It creaked under my weight, and I sighed, reaching for food, drink— _something_ that wasn’t there. And no matter how much I willed myself to move, I just couldn’t be bothered to get it. My head rested on the cool bar top. I didn’t notice the door open and close, and Cole’s voice startled me as he spoke. 

“Christ, what’s a guy gotta do to get a drink around here?” It was honestly the most cliched line ever, but somehow it made me laugh anyway as he slid into the seat next to me. The boyish smile vanished, replaced by seriousness. “I’d get her if I could. You know I would.”

I shuffled my seat slightly, just enough so that it was possible for me to lean my head against his shoulder. “I know. But this wouldn’t have happened if—” 

“I know,” he cut me off, “If we hadn’t let her go. But you and Ruby have got to stop blaming yourselves. It only makes things worse for you.”

Adjusting my position, I murmured back, “I think you need to take your own advice.”

He turned to face me, “And what exactly do you mean by that?” 

I tried to act serious, but my chair chose that exact moment to fall apart, one of the legs splitting and as I grabbed Cole for support I ended up bringing him down with me. We lay on the floor laughing for a few minutes, before he stood up and brushed the dust from his jacket, holding a hand out. 

“Don’t give me that look,” he said as he hauled me up. “I’m aware that this conversation is not over. I just know that: a) Our _charming_ guest needs feeding, and b) a few people might be ever so slightly worried about your whereabouts. No buts.”

Groaning as I was led to the door, I let Cole take me back around towards the Ranch. He looped an arm over my shoulder and I reached upwards to link my hand with his. “Definitely not over.”


	46. Part Three: Chapter Fourteen

I woke up with a pounding head just before midday, kicking myself for being so stupid and sleeping in. As I passed Vida on my way to the kitchen to grab a snack, I stopped and grabbed her arm before she could go any further.

“Vi, I’m sorry. I should’ve found you last night. How are you holding up?”

“I’m fine. Don’t worry about me.” She pushed me away and continued down the corridor, her blue hair bouncing as she walked. Vida barely stopped to call over her shoulder, “Worry about _Cate_.”

Shaken thanks to the run-in with Vida, I almost didn’t notice Ruby as she sped past me towards the showers. I caught her as she hurtled past, shrugging her hoodie up so it hugged her frame. “Roo, what’s the rush?” She turned away, not wanting to talk but I reached for her hand. “Come on, talk to me.”

She pulled away and shook her head, “Cole needs you more.” 

“Where?”

“Gym.”

I set off at a run. He was sitting by the mirror, red on his t-shirt and the mirror itself had cracks all the way up it, decorated with blood. Cole was holding a small cloth to his hand and he was facing away from me when I walked in. 

Something other than the pain was bothering him. I took a few cautious steps over and turned him to face me. “What happened in here?”

“I just— I wasn’t thinking— I let it win.”

My hand reached out, softly stroking the scars across his knuckles on Cole’s other hand. I just wanted to _help_. It was too late before I realised that I hadn’t touched anyone since Ruby. I was swept into a harsh whirlwind of thoughts, one thing led to another and I was hurled into a memory. I saw his dad, hitting his mom. I saw the inside of a truck, hang on, the truck we were driving on our way to the Ranch. And then it hit me. What he had been focused on. 

This was what Clancy showed him.

The red camp. The torture. I could— I could feel his _fear_. I could see— 

Cole broke the physical contact, grabbing my arm further up, just above where my sleeve ended. His eyes glistened.

“I’m sorry,” I managed to choke out, my own eyes blinking back tears. “I didn’t mean to, it just—” 

“Don’t _ever_ try to get in my head again.” He pushed me away, kicking off from the wall and walking towards the door. “ _It’s too dark for you._ ” 

~

The damage had been done. Cole had barely said two words to me since this morning. What was even worse, I couldn’t find anyone _anywhere_. The people I really needed to talk to seemed to have the ability to fade out of existence once I started to look for them. It took longer than necessary, but I finally found Ruby as she came out of Clancy’s room. Chubs followed behind, sighing and clearly unimpressed.

Something about her expression caught me off guard, and instead of going to talk to her, I walked straight through the open door to where Clancy Gray was still smirking. 

“Someone’s in a good mood.” I folded my arms to lean against the wall more comfortably. 

“I know you. How do I know you again? You’re not one of the regulars.” His face looked as if he was trying to solve a puzzle with only half of the pieces. 

“Aria Stacey. Ring any bells?” I really hoped it didn’t. 

“I don’t know the name, but I know the face. You were in the truck with me, weren’t you? With the red.”

It took a moment to realise that he was talking about Cole. No one had ever referenced him as being ‘the red’ before, simply because there were very few who could. I tossed the thought aside. No point in thinking about Cole while he’s mad at me, I’ve done enough damage for one day and there’s no way I was going to let Clancy latch onto that reaction. He continued to smirk, one of his hands used to thumb through the pages of a battered copy of _Watership Down_. The look on his face made me uneasy, and I shifted my position to the defensive slightly. _Why was I even here?_ He noticed me looking at the book and shut it, before tossing it over. I caught it by the spine, careful not to drop it. 

“Ah, Stewart brought me that. A little present for being a good boy, I suppose.” 

Oh god, Cole had been here? Yes, last night. He told me. He brought me with him. I remembered it now, although the memory was covered in a layer of tiredness, it was easy to recall exactly where the pair had sat and talked last night. Afterwards, Cole had something on his mind, but I had no idea what. Something Clancy had shown him.

That was it, I knew what I had to do. Second times a charm? I waited until he was focused on my hands, I mimicked his earlier movement of flicking through the book. His eyes fixated on the motion of the pages, and I tried to work my way in. Of course, thanks to Ruby, there’s no way he would’ve expected _me_ of all people to try and see what he was thinking. 

The surface was all I could reach, and there was no way I was going any closer to him. It would have to do. It was hard work trying to organise the thoughts, make sense of his mind. Clancy’s mind was like a spider’s web. Each thought was surrounded by millions of others, and it would be easy to get lost and never find a way out. The most useful thing I could see was a building on fire. Fire. So much fire. The heat of the flames in his mind pushed me out, and I struggled to not visibly recoil from them. 

Clancy was planning something. And it wasn’t good.


	47. Part Three: Chapter Fifteen

There wasn’t much to do, and since training _clearly_ wasn’t an option, I found myself in the garage. It was late in the evening, and Lee had just finished telling me that Vida and Chubs are doing a recon mission tomorrow on the whereabouts of Lillian Gray. A couple of days ago, I had taught some of the younger kids how to play Cheat and they were enjoying a game on a rough blanket laid out on the floor. 

Glancing back at Liam, I laughed as he had somehow managed to give himself a stripe of oil across his forehead while working on the motorbike, the grease and grime thick in his hair. He had Mick Jagger playing on maximum volume and it had been on loop for the last hour. The music was so incredibly loud, I didn’t even notice Ruby come in. She paused by the door as if she were deciding whether or not to come in, before beginning to make her way over. 

The change in Liam’s face as she spoke made me smile. He flipped from deep in concentration to completely at ease in her presence, pulling her into him and leaning against the bike. Elizabeth, a short girl who had come in with Zu, tapped me on the shoulder. 

“You think it’s good enough? I know what it is, you know what it is, but what if she doesn’t?” She pointed at the crescent moon painted on the side of the bike helmet. I nodded, impressed with her handiwork. 

“Liza, in my opinion, it’s brilliant. Good job. Ask Lee if you’re really concerned though, okay?” I smiled as she walked over to him. Liam’s plan. Brilliant, but stupid as usual. He was still hell-bent on getting the media involved to spread awareness about the camps. Ruby and Cole still weren’t on board, and I was sitting on the fence about telling them. Yes, it could go horribly wrong, but Lee’s heart was in the right place, and he was so completely invested in the idea it would be like kicking a puppy to deny him his chance. 

~

Early. I had made an effort of getting up extra early, even before Vida herself to wish her and Chubs goodbye for their mission. There was no way I was going to miss it. Since I had an hour and a half to kill by the time I’d had a shower, and twisted my damp hair into a messy topknot, I walked around the Ranch. For once it was completely quiet, each corridor and room empty apart from the bedrooms. Even the gym was empty and it gave me enough time to go for a twenty-minute run before continuing to wander.

It was peaceful to stand in the hallway, listening to the sound of nothing. No one to interrupt my thoughts. No one to interrupt the tranquillity. No one to— never mind. Three doors down, a hushed conversation caught my attention. _Who could possibly be up this early in the morning, other than me?_ Pretty much everyone else here was blessed with the brilliant skill of having the ability to wake up on time. Me? Not so much. 

As I neared the door, I could pick out who the voices belonged to, and I slowed to a halt outside the room. Cole and Nico. _Cole_ and _Nico_. I hovered outside the door, unfortunately unable to hear what exactly they were talking about. It was hard, but I managed to catch a few words— sadly, not enough to piece together a proper idea of what they were talking about.

Thurmond. Files. Green. Inside.

_Thurmond. Files. Green. Inside._

_What did it mean?_ I checked my watch. It was nearly time to go to the tunnel. Nearly. I should be going, yet… Glancing at the door, I tried to decide what to do. I should know what was happening, I mean I had the right to. _Didn’t I?_

The decision was taken away from me as the door swung open and my eyes widened in horror as both Nico and Cole realised I had been eavesdropping. “What are you doing here?” Cole sighed, shutting the door behind him, leaving behind any chance I had of finding out what was going on. 

“I… uh— I heard voices.” It was the truth. Yet, it was stupid. And Cole saw right through it. Only, before he could say anything, Nico spoke up.

“We’re going to see off Vida and Chubs, you coming?” He tilted his head in the direction of the tunnel. 

I nodded and walked with them. After all, _what else was I supposed to do?_

~

Chubs, being Chubs, was giving Ruby the lecture that _she_ was supposed to be giving _him_ about staying safe and not doing anything stupid. While they were talking, I walked over to where Vida and Lee were going over the map. Zu hovered nearby, shifting from foot to foot. 

“Zu, you okay?” I held out my hand to her and she took it, squeezing it tightly. She nodded, a sharp, stiff motion that didn’t entirely fit with the rest of her body language. I squeezed her hand back, letting her take a step closer and watch the others around us. She was focused on Chubs and Vida, her eyes flitting between the two in worry. I was looking at Cole, and how he was looking and Ruby and having another private conversation with Nico. _What were they hiding?_

As soon as the pair were ready to leave, we all began to wave off Chubs and Vida. I had half a mind to telekinetically restrain them from leaving, but it wasn’t my decision to make. “Guys,” I faltered, “Are you sure you’ve got everything?” 

“Don’t worry. We’ll be fine. I’ll take _extra special care_ of Charlie Boy.” Vida leant over and mussed Chubs’ hair and he flattened it back down before nodding his own response. _They were going to be fine,_ I thought. _There’s nothing to worry about._

“Don’t kill each other!” Liam called out, his voice tainted with uneasiness. He wasn’t alone. The rest of us continued to wave awkwardly, each one more nervous than the last. Finally, the person least expected to break, Zu ran forward and grabbed their backpacks, digging her heels in and shaking her head, crying harder than I’d ever seen.

“Come on Z, we talked about this. We’re family, remember? Family don’t leave each other, they _always_ come back. A chosen family is stronger than anything formed by blood. I am _not_ my sister, I’ll always come back for you.” Vi held her hand out for a fist bump as Zu wiped her eyes, but was pulled into a strong hug by the little girl as Zu wrapped her arms around Vida’s neck. The sight brought tears to my eyes and I had to turn away. I had always hated goodbyes. They reminded me too much of the people I never got to say goodbye to. 

Chubs gave Zu a final hug and I watched from the corner of my eye after rubbing my eyes so fiercely to get rid of the tears they looked like I had been crying anyway. I had to stay strong. For Vida and Chubs. For Zu. For everyone. It took a couple of minutes, but I managed to steady my breathing and turn back just in time to see Chubs and Vida disappear down the tunnel. At the sight of their backs walking away, I could barely slam the door to the nearest room behind me before the tears rolled down. Sobs shook my body, and soon enough the cries turned into coughs as I choked on my own tears. 

_Family always comes back._ Vida’s words circled around my head so quickly it made me dizzy. Jude was family. And we left him. _Family always comes back._ But we didn’t. We left him there. 

_We left him in the dark._

  
  



	48. Part Three: Chapter Sixteen

_Jude._

_We left him in the dark._

The thought sent me spiralling, all of the things that could’ve gone better, _should’ve_ gone better. My fist froze before hitting the wall, inches from creating more scars on top of the old ones. I pulled it away, inspecting them. The faded white lines left from the training room mirror incident looked almost shiny in the dim light. I hesitated before finally making up my mind. _Hurting myself helps no one. Thinking of the past helps no one._

I regained composure and ran my fingers over the scars on my knuckles as I left the room, pulling the door shut behind me instead of slamming it like I had done so many times before. The contrast between moments earlier and now was drastic, my head finally clearer and even though there was a slight pain in it, I felt one hundred times better.

As I walked along the corridor, on my way down to the kitchen, I passed the room where I had overheard the conversation from earlier. Curiosity getting the better of me, I decided to push the door open slightly. At a glance, it appeared to be empty, but once I closed the door behind me I started to wonder how I could’ve missed Ruby’s angry voice, resonating high above the whirring of the computer. 

“Please, _listen_ to me!” 

“It’s okay. I need to do this,” Nico’s voice was barely a whisper, but I heard every word.

“It’s not!” It was hard to tell if she was angrier at whatever he had done, or herself. Ruby’s face showed nothing but conflict. 

“I have to fix this, for Jude,” he pleaded with her.

Ruby took Nico by the shoulders and tried to reason with him. I knew I shouldn’t be hearing this. I knew I shouldn’t be there. But, at that moment, I knew that leaving had the potential to do more harm than good. So I stayed, and I watched.

“You’re not going back there.” She whispered, pulling him in for a hug and whispering softly. “I won’t let you. Thurmond’s changed. It’s— I can’t let you go back to that. You can’t risk your life for this. If you don’t stay for me then please, _please_ do it for him.”

“If not me, then who?” He buried his head in her shirt.

It was only then was I at last able to partly piece it together. The conversation from earlier. The conversation just now. _Thurmond. Inside._ To take it down, the war could only be won from the inside. I waited until they were both facing away from me, before I got a chance to slip out the door and my destination changed from the kitchen to Alban’s old office where I knew Cole would be. He was _not_ running from this conversation. 

I was almost at the office, my flair for dramatics in overdrive as I burst through the door with everything I had, almost giving poor Senator Cruz a heart attack. Cole’s reaction was non-existent, he merely leant back in his seat. The force I had put into opening the door caused it to slam behind me, making the Cruz jump again. My hand slammed down on the desk, but as I opened my mouth to speak Cruz leapt to her feet as Ruby exploded into the room. 

“So he told you.” Cole didn’t even ask, he already knew the answer and his voice was flat, void of any signs of emotions. “Both of you, I’m guessing.” 

Ruby’s momentum slowed, as she glanced at me and noticed how angry _I_ was. “What are you—” her train of thought was left unfinished as she shook her head and turned her attention back to Cole. “Yes. How could you authorize—” 

Inches from my own, Cole’s hand hit the desk, bringing Ruby’s argument to a halt before it could even start. “Shut the door— _one of you_!” His voice had a pained quality to it, as he used the hand not on the desk to wipe a bead of sweat from his brow. “Shut the door.” In response, Ruby kicked it shut and crossed her arms.

“He can’t handle it. Sending him there would be like a _death sentence_ .” She wrung her hands, the momentum almost gone and the drive that had sent her here was beginning to disappear. Me, on the other hand, well I could rant for _hours_.

“It’s nothing _like_ a death sentence,” I cut in sharply, “The kid won’t make it out alive.”

There was a sharp intake of breath from Senator Cruz, and Cole, Ruby and I all simultaneously seemed to remember that she was still in the room. Cole responded first, turning to her and turning on the charm, “Could I please speak to these two alone for a few minutes?” 

She left without further prompting, although it was clear she wasn’t happy about it. 

“Come on guys, talk to me. I can’t help if I don’t know what’s going in those goddamn heads of yours.” Cole leant forwards, both hands firmly planted on the desk, before reaching into one of the lower drawers and spreading a package of photos out across the table. “These were released from Amplify a few days ago. There’s only one way this will work, and it’s the plan we’ve already agreed on.” 

Ruby shook from head to toe as she looked at each individual in the photos, before stopping on one. A girl, green. I caught her arm to keep her upright as her legs were ready to give way. I sharp glare in Cole’s direction told him to keep his distance, but he stayed put. 

“I know her. She— Ashley— _how?_ ” I tightened my grip on her and Cole finally took a step back as he realised. 

“She was in your cabin? Shit, I had no idea… I would never have… I’m so sorry.” He rubbed his forehead and ran his hands through his hair. 

Ruby stiffened, and as soon as I knew she could stand on her own, I let her. “It has to be me. If it has to be done, I’ll do it myself. I’ll be damned if I let anyone else do it.” 

“The others aren’t going to like this.” I shook my head, thinking of what Liam would say, of Chubs, of Vida, of _Zu_. 

“Which is why we can’t tell them. Not until we absolutely have to.” There was no persuading her otherwise, Ruby had made up her mind. Cole sighed and leaned back against the desk. 

“Like I said. Thurmond’s our endgame.” 

“Thurmond’s our endgame.” I repeated, all the more sure I _definitely_ wasn’t going to like how this turned out.


	49. Part Three: Chapter Seventeen

We spent four days in the lead up to the Oasis Op waiting. The time was well spent, training the kids in basic self-defence and running through the plan. I spent most of the time in the makeshift firing range, the assault rifle barely leaving my hands except to eat and sleep. My shot was back to being near-perfect, after a longer than average break from shooting and the weapon was comforting in my hands.

I left the range that evening, overhearing a few people talking about the tail end of _yet another_ argument heard between Cole and Liam. This time about Cole taking Liam and Mike off the camp hit because they were messing around in a few of the run-throughs. It was understandable, but I could see why Lee was making such a fuss about it, it sort of seemed like Cole was doing his best to keep him out of this completely. 

The Op was tomorrow, starting early in the morning and I had one final thing to do before getting a good night’s sleep. I knocked on the door to Alban’s, basically now Cole’s office, before walking inside. Cole was working at the desk, once again running over the plans for tomorrow, and once again obsessing over every detail, however small. I hadn’t spoken to him since arguing with him in the office about sending Nico into Thurmond. And before that, since what happened in the gym. 

“Got a minute?” I hovered in the doorway.

“No, not really.” He looked up, looked back at the papers in front of him, before changing his mind. “Come in anyway.”

Looking around, I took a seat by the desk. “Wow,” I remarked. “You’ve really made yourself at home here.” 

Cole paused what he was doing long enough to allow a small smile to form on his lips. “ I have, haven’t I.” There was even a small indent in the wall which was all too familiar to me, but just this once I pretended not to notice it. “Are you ready for tomorrow?”

“Ready as I’ll ever be.” 

“You sure you don’t want to be on the inside, I know you’d be good in there.” He made an effort to continue the conversation, even though it was getting kind of awkward.

“I’m fine keeping watch. I’d rather not go back inside any camp if that’s alright. I’ll only help with Thurmond if you need me to.” I thought back to my time at Black Rock, and the Leda Corp testing facility.

He looked directly at me, “You don’t have to do anything if you don’t want to.”

Suddenly I couldn’t take it anymore. “I’m sorry.” I blurted out, unable to stop myself. “About what happened. In the gym.”

Cole ran his hands through his hair. “Yeah, it was a shitty thing to do. But I know you were trying to help. I probably should’ve just talked to you in the first place.”

“You hit the mirror.”

“I did, didn’t I?”

“That’s something _I_ would do.”

“I know, I was there when you did it.”

Without warning, we both burst into laughter, and I knew that it was going to be okay. Yeah, I messed up a bit, but we were back on track, at least partially.

~

We had been waiting for hours, and the supply trucks still hadn’t come yet. The group were hidden in the wash running along the cracked asphalt. It wasn’t too far from the camp, but it wasn’t so close that the quick pit stop the driver’s made would be too obvious. Cole called for a status report, but there was nothing new to give him so the radio silence was resumed. 

The truck appeared in the distance, and Ruby nudged me, noticing the signal that it was the right truck. One of the kids in the group, Zach, was buzzing with excitement as he got into position. Without hesitation, Ruby walked into the middle of the road. My breath hitched in my throat and I couldn’t tear my eyes away from her. It was clear to see that she had her hooks in the driver’s mind, and thankfully the vehicle rolled to a stop a few feet away from her, allowing the others to get in the back. I motioned for her to get in while I reported back to Cole.

“Ride secured, over,” I spoke into the comms unit in my ear.

“Fantastic. Proceed with phase two,” came Cole’s reply.

I climbed in the back, and as soon as the second part of the plan was put into action I rolled out the back, covering the exit. Sliding into position, all that was left to do was wait. 

The earpiece crackled into life as I heard Ruby’s voice in my ear. “Control is out of play, over.” 

“Roger that, proceed upstairs with the others.” 

A flicker of motion in the corner of my eye. A person, no— two people. One male, one female. Blond male, could be— a kid? The woman was a redhead, but I was more focused on the guy. The guy who was about to make me go against every fibre of my being and enter the camp. 

“Goddammit, Liam.” I sprinted through the gates, just as my comms unit crackled to life again. Ruby’s voice again, and she didn’t seem to happy. Neither did Cole.

“Liam’s just showed up. And he’s brought a reporter from Amplify.”

The only response was static. I could just about imagine Cole’s furious reaction. Actually, I didn’t want to. The atmosphere was uncomfortable, the silence brought with it even more so. A few more seconds and I was witnessing the scene first hand, Zach’s eyes locking with mine in an expression only described as ‘What the hell is going on?” I recognised what it was because it probably mirrored my own. 

Ruby didn’t miss a beat in continuing with the plan. She was followed by the reporter as she went to talk to one of the kids— the Senator’s daughter, Rosa. I had other things to worry about. As soon as the reporter disappeared behind Ruby, I walked straight over to Lee as Zach guarded the door.

“Are you out of your goddamn mind?” He looked sheepish enough already, but I was right to freak out. “Lee, this was seriously dangerous!”

He put a hand out on my shoulder, “Breathe.” Liam’s voice was calm, the opposite of mine. “Calm down. I thought this through.” 

“You don’t even know if we can trust her!” I took a step back, letting his arm fall flat. “Liam Michael Stewart don’t you even _dare_ tell me to fucking CALM DOWN. Cole is going to have your ass for this!” 

“Please don’t take sides just because you’re in love with my brother, Aria. What I’m doing is good.” 

Zach took that exact moment to cough, and tap his earpiece. Mine was still on. _Fuck_. Cole’s voice crackled into life and I cringed as he cleared his throat. 

“Ah— uh, status report?”

Ruby, who had also been listening, sighed and replied to him so I wouldn’t have to. “Initiating evac. Coming back to base.”

“Two minutes.” Then Cole disappeared, and the post-op radio silence started as we got the kids out and onto the bus. 

I looked over at Ruby, and she watched as Zach helped Liam lift his bike onto the truck and helped the reporter— Alice— up. She was watching Liam, probably still processing what had happened. _What the hell was he thinking?_

~

It was about for hours before we stopped and ditched the truck for an old bus that Senator Cruz had arranged for us. Liam was going to ride behind us on his motorbike and Alice took a seat at the back of the bus. The kids piled on the bus and I sat near the front, laughing as Zach added to Ruby’s instructions. 

“Right. Seat belts,” Zach announced through the speaker system as the bus engine came to life. “I’m your driver Zach and I’m here to welcome you to Psi Bus Services. If you look out your windows— obviously please don’t, because Ruby just said not to, you can give Nevada the finger as we pull away on our epic quest to freedom.” 

His announcement returned a few smiles, and at least a couple kids let out a little bit of laughter. I watched as Ruby spoke to Rosa, comforting her. These kids had suffered for too long, they deserved to feel free again. My head had been pounding ever since I stepped foot in that camp, and with the curtains blocking out the light I allowed myself to get a few hours sleep.


	50. Part Three: Chapter Eighteen

The bus lurched forward, jolting me awake. “Sorry,” Zach mumbled over the speaker as he put the vehicle into park and turned the engine off. He’d driven into the garage and Cole and Senator Cruz stood waiting. 

I could’ve pinpointed the exact moment when Cruz and her daughter saw each other, and Rosa burst through the bus doors and ran to her mother. The reunion brought tears to everyone’s eyes and I let all of the kids off the bus first, watching them gingerly step down into the garage. Cole had a rucksack packed and rested by his feet and I knew he was about to rip into Liam with everything he had for his carelessness. Well, _almost_ everything he had. 

The nap hadn’t helped, and standing up sent a wave of dizziness through me. I held onto the metal bar by the doors to help myself out of the bus. There were so many different sounds, I couldn’t focus on any single one of them. Cole and Liam stood there, arguing, not once did anyone look over in my direction. Cole handed his brother the rucksack and stood there expectantly. The argument reached a climax and a look was shared between Ruby and Cole.

I put my hand against my forehead, trying to rub away the blinding pain that took over. _Not now_. I remembered saying that to myself last time, but then again, if not now, then when? It’s going to kill me at some point soon, I just can’t jeopardize the Thurmond Op for anyone else. 

My headache cleared slightly, and I took a few deep breaths. _See?_ I told myself. _You’re fine. Walk it off._ One hesitant step forward, and then another stronger one. _You’re fine_. I heard Cole tell everyone to grab the rest of the supplies off the bus to be organised. “Oh, and someone definitely has to fill me in on the look on the PSF’s faces when they saw you guys.” Cole turned towards the truck and saw me, smiling slightly in a teasing way. Oh god, I was never going to hear the end of this. I should never have left the bloody comms thing on. Laughing slightly, I took a couple more steps towards him, quickening my pace.

The last thing I saw was his stricken face as I fell.

~

The lights above made me want to close my eyes again and welcome the darkness back. Unfortunately for me, Chubs had the opposite idea. 

“Nope, not happening. You’re awake. And you’re staying that way.” He propped me up in the bed and gave me a chance to look around the room we were using as a makeshift Infirmary as my eyes adjusted. A million thoughts were running around my head but I only gave voice to one.

“When the hell did you get back?”

Chubs sighed and checked my temperature. “Last night. Yes, we found Gray’s wife. Yes, Vida and I are both still alive and breathing.” 

Despite everything, I smiled. “What’ve you got there?” Chubs was balancing a notebook and a textbook on his lap, his neat handwriting out the window as the notes were clearly written hastily and by the looks of things, whilst on the move.

“Notes on Oranges, Lillian Gray, Clancy, parts of the brain, mirror minds.” He handed me a glass of water. 

“Why have you got notes on Clancy?” I asked, curious.

Chubs shut the books and put them on the side. “He did something to his mom’s brain. It’s… hard to figure out.” He chose his words carefully. “These are just notes on what he can do specifically.” 

I pulled the glass away from my lips briefly, “So what _can_ he do?” 

“According to Ruby, he can influence feelings, freeze people and project images into their heads. According to Nico, he can access someone’s mind and then come back to it later, use it to his own advantage. The same way that he can freeze people he can move them around and control them like dolls. But not for very long.” 

I nodded and finished the water, handing it back. “So I’m fine, can I leave now?” 

Chubs rubbed his face with his hand before shaking his head. “Absolutely not.”

I ignored him, swinging my legs around so that I was dangling off the bed. “I’m not going to do anything stupid, just walk around for a bit.” 

“Debatable.”

“Hey!” I pulled my jacket on and rolled my eyes. 

“If you’re going to go, at least go somewhere where there’s a lot of people. I’ve heard the garage is pretty popular.” 

“Garage it is.” Even though I didn’t really want to, I took Chubs’ advice and went somewhere crowded.

He was right, the garage was full of kids. Zu was in the centre of it all, perched uncomfortably on a folding chair. Vida and Ruby were hovering nearby and Liam was sitting slightly off-screen from the camera. Chubs and I went to stand by them, watching as Ruby checked with Zu for the hundredth time that this was still okay. 

They started the interview with Zu writing on a notepad, showing it to Liam. 

“I am Suzume, and I’m thirteen.” He spoke loud and clearly. “But my friends call me Zu.”

Alice asked the first question and Zu took a deep breath. “Could you tell me why you have your friend speaking instead of you?”

I watched Zu’s eyes glance over towards us, and Vida gave her a quick thumbs up and mouthed something along the lines of, “You got this, Z.”

“Because… for a long time I was too scared to say anything. And I didn’t really t-think that anyone would want to l-listen.” 

Liam jumped, the colour drained from his face in shock. Ruby grabbed hold of my arm and I let her, unable to move myself. Chubs was the only person still capable of doing anything other than staring, and he pushed through the crowd until he could hold her in his arms. Her voice was high and sweet, and I didn’t even realise I was crying until I saw Ruby and Chubs’ tears. Lee looked like a proud parent, still unable to speak and Vida was clapping, the only other sound in the entire room. 

“I did it,” Zu let out a breath, grinning from ear to ear.

“Hell yeah you did!” Vi cheered, putting her arms around me and Ruby and squeezing us tight. 

Zu… she just— did she just? I just couldn’t believe it. She was nervous, you could hear it in her voice, but you couldn’t see it in her face. Her face was filled with wonder, with pride, and with happiness. She patted Chubs’ back, laughing and complaining slightly. “Hey! I’m trying t-to do an interview.” 

Vida had to go over and physically peel him from Zu, guiding him back to us and he instantly hugged me and Ruby. Liam used that time to move his chair further away from the camera, so that Zu could look past Alice, towards him. Thanks to this, she relaxed, gaining more and more confidence. I stood there, speechless. I let Chubs’ tears dampen my shoulder slightly, and it was okay, because I was pretty sure I’d cried a little on his button-down collar anyway. 

The interview continued, and I couldn’t wipe the smile from my face. Zu talked about her colour classification, the camp she was at and how she ended up taken to the camp from the first collection after frying her dad’s car. I’d heard this story already, but it hurt even more to see Zu tell it herself. The story got worse and my heart ached for Liam as Zu checked with him before talking about the escape from Caledonia. Her description was so detailed, so… _graphic_. I didn’t notice the crowd that had gathered with the rest of the kids behind us until a few of them gasped. Cole was standing at the head of the group, his mouth set in a firm, grim line. Almost all of the crowd were watching Zu, and the way she explained what had happened. Liam didn’t even notice that Cole didn’t seem to stop watching his brother.

Once it was over, Zu came running over to us and I couldn’t contain myself any longer. It wasn’t just me, Liam and Ruby piled ourselves on top of her, in one giant attempt at a hug. She pushed us off, giggling and our faces all held the same expression. There was no other way to describe the emotion flooding through me. Pride.

Ruby spoke to Chubs quickly as she stood up, and Vida and Cole asked questions. I didn’t know what they were talking about, and I didn’t care. I sat there on the floor with my back to them, holding Zu as tight as possible. 

“I’m so proud of you,” I whispered, loud enough for her to hear. 

“You know what? I’m proud of me too,” Zu hugged me back, nestling her head into my neck. 

At that moment I didn’t care about anything else. I wasn’t trying to be selfish, but fuck the camps. Fuck President Gray. This? This was what winning felt like.


	51. Part Three: Chapter Nineteen

Ruby and Chubs disappeared almost as soon as their conversation finished to do something related to Lillian Gray. That left Vida congratulating Zu alongside Liam. Cole, not wanting to stay, turned to go but I followed him out the passage. 

No idea what to say, I led with “Hey.” 

He spun around at the sound of my voice, his face softening. “Hey yourself, darlin’.” 

“I—” I opened my mouth to say something but was cut off, Cole had closed the space between us and wrapped his arms around me. 

“I was worried. You actually had me worried. I thought— I don’t know, someone had shot you on the Op or something? I didn’t know what to do. I should learn first aid. The first thing I thought to shout was ‘Where the hell is that Chubs kid when you need him?’ I was—” 

It was my turn to cut him off, returning the hug. “Relax. I passed out. Happens all the time. I’m fine, I promise.”  _ Another lie.  _ I changed the subject. “You busy?”

“In an hour I have to feed our resident demon spawn, but until then I’m free. What do you have in mind?”

“A game of Cheat?” I shrugged, knowing full well that it was Cole’s least favourite game.

He groaned, “Why Cheat? You always want to play Cheat. I  _ hate _ Cheat. If I lose one more game I might  _ ‘accidentally’ _ set that pack of cards on fire.” 

I couldn’t stop the smile from creeping across my face. “You only hate the game because you’re awful at it.”

“Way to sugarcoat it.” 

“You could lie to my face and tell me your middle name is Carol, and I’d probably believe you but for some illogical reason you can’t seem to bluff in a card game.”

“Good job I’ve never been to Vegas then, isn’t it?” We set off down the tunnel to fetch the cards, considering Cole has never been one to shy away from a challenge. The conversation didn’t stop, and neither did the grins on both of our faces. “And you don’t know that my middle name isn’t Carol.”

“Cole Carol Stewart, has a nice ring to it— don’t you think?”

“I walked straight into that one, didn’t I?”

“You certainly did.”

“You’re going to call me Carol from now on, aren’t you?” He groaned again, laughing.

“Of course not! If it happens  _ accidentally _ , then you can’t blame me…” 

~

An hour and five games of Cheat later, and I was walking with Cole to feed Clancy. Out of the five games, Cole had surprisingly won one, although somehow without cheating, and having gained the ability to read my face like an open book. When we finally arrived, after stopping by the kitchen to grab dinner— I politely refused the mac and cheese— Clancy was already awaiting our arrival. I leant against the wall as Cole sat opposite Clancy, their bodies separated by only a wall of bulletproof glass barely an inch thick. 

I had repeatedly been asked by Cole to leave, and I had repeatedly refused, ignoring every single one of his complaints and making myself comfortable in the corner. Clancy’s eyebrow raised as I came in, not in a surprised way, but instead in more of a questioning, ‘are you sure?’ that appeared to be directed at Cole. He simply shrugged and handed Clancy his food. 

They started a conversation, but because I had no context— this being my first time watching over in a while, it was a little hard to follow. The word ‘Sawtooth’ kept coming up, and I racked my brain trying to figure out what it meant. If I hadn’t figured out what it meant by this evening, paying a visit to Nico and his computer seemed like my best option. 

Unable to track the rest of the conversation, I waited until they were done to ask Cole questions. Unfortunately, I never got the chance as Ruby appeared the second we came out of the room. And she wasn’t happy. 

“I have this under control.” Cole argued with her as I closed the door behind us. Neither of them saw, but I did. Clancy Gray’s smirk was received by a well-earned scowl from me, and an eye roll as I switched the light between the two areas back off. 

~

We crowded around the TV. The media package organised and released by Alice had gone out less than a day ago, and the news presenters had just finished talking about it, and showing a clip from it. The woman at the desk shuffled the papers in front of her and opened her mouth to speak again, but the screen flashed red and cut to some live footage just outside a flaming structure that used to be— used to be—  _ Kansas HQ _ .


	52. Part Three: Chapter Twenty

_Children’s League Headquarters Destroyed._

The headline was the only thing I could focus on as Ruby and I leaped out of our seats and raced to the office. Cole was in there, on the phone. Once he heard the door shut behind us, he switched the phone to speaker. He was on the phone to Harry.

“Not sure how they managed to escape. The survivors were hardly with it by the time our guys got to them. The story we got— damn, it was unreal.”

“What do you mean?” Cole’s hand clenched into a fist, and I struggled to not visibly show my reaction. 

“The survivors, well… they claim the attack was by kids. A unit of kids. They said— they said they were _Reds_.”

Once the phone cut out, the three of us stared at each other in silence. 

“Do you believe it?” Ruby asked, “That it was Reds?”

“Project Jamboree,” I shook my head, “Has to be.”

Cole crossed the room, to the door and back, pacing. “You need to know something before I tell the others. Both of you. Before we present our plan to the other kids.”

“What?” Ruby said it before I could.

“I need to investigate and hopefully document the activities of a camp in Idaho. Clancy claims that it is one of the facilities used for training Reds. Sawtooth.”

“ _Sawtooth._ ” I muttered the name under my breath. 

Ruby opened her mouth to argue, visibly exhausted. “If you want my support, you have to finally tell the others. About being a Red. That’s the only way I can agree.”

Cole seemed surprised, but I knew this was the time to tell everyone. I agreed with Roo when she told him that we were beginning to lose the support of the kids. They had already started to believe that Cole didn’t have their best interests at heart because he wasn’t one of them, because they didn’t _know_. 

“Ruby’s right.” Somehow I found my voice. “This has gone on long enough.” 

After some careful deliberation, that didn’t take as long as I expected, Cole caved. “Fine. Tonight, I’ll tell Liam. The rest depends on however that goes, reasonable?”

Ruby nodded, adding, “You have to tell him before the meeting tonight.”

He sighed, taking a seat. “Sure, but before that I need to run through—” 

I cut him off, waving my hand. “Ruby, could you give us a minute?”

“Sure.” She nodded, disappearing out the door. 

Once she had gone, I whirled around to face Cole. “I will fight you if I have to. I’m not letting you go.”

“Easier said than done, darlin’.” He drummed his fingers on the desk, flicking through pages of Thurmond notes.

“No, you’re going to put those papers down, and you’re going to goddamn _listen_ to me.” 

Cole stood up and walked towards me. “I need to do this.”

“And I need you alive. So it’s not happening.” 

“Aria, this—” 

“No.”

“You need to—”

I cut him off again, “No.”

“You’re being—” 

“No.”

“Listen— You’re being childish, come on.”

“Childish? No. I’m not being _childish._ I’m being protective. I’m not letting you throw yourself in there, _knowing_ that something bad could happen.” 

“Aria, calm down.”

“No! I’m not losing another person I love, okay?!” 

I froze. _Did I just say what I think I just said?_ The look on Cole’s face told me that I had. 

“Forget it.” I covered it up. “You’re experienced. You know what you’re doing. It’s fine.” I turned away, wrapping my arms around my chest tightly. _I did just say that. I’m pretending I didn’t just say that._

_But it doesn’t make it any less true._

“Aria,” I felt his hand on my shoulder before I heard him whisper my name. “Aria, look at me.” 

Uncomfortable, I turned away. _Aria, how stupid could you possibly be? There’s no way he feels the same. You’ve been on-and-off for almost a year. Don’t be ridiculous. He couldn’t possibly—_

“I love you too.” 

Cole spun me around to face him, and I let him. For once, this kiss wasn’t stolen between training, catching one of us by surprise. I leaned upwards and slowly pressed my lips to his. His arms wrapped around my waist, lifting me up and sitting me on the desk. Cole’s hair was soft as I twirled my fingers through it. Both of us were hot to the touch, and he broke the kiss momentarily, only to finish his previous sentence. “And I’m not going anywhere.” His hands ran up and down my spine, giving it the feeling of a thousand fireworks. 

_And I’m not going anywhere_ , he said.

_But I am._

~

I hovered at the edge of the meeting. Yes, I had to be there, but I already knew pretty much everything they were talking about. The only reason I was there was because it would look weird if I didn’t. After refusing Cole’s offer of a chair, I remained leaning against the door. Ruby, Senator Cruz, Dr Gray and him were sitting down slightly to the side but still in front of the rest of the room. 

There hadn’t been a chance to talk to Cole and ask how it went with Liam, and his face didn’t give anything away. Liam, on the other hand, looked like he would rather be cleaning the toilets than sitting here. I felt his eyes flitting back and forth between me and Ruby, but only I met them, once. He didn’t seem very impressed, to say the least. The best conclusion I could come to was that he now knew that both Ruby and I had kept Cole’s secret. 

I zoned out. I couldn’t help it. I already knew what had happened. The Government locked up children poisoned by _their mistakes_. When Leda Corp invented Agent Ambrosia to counteract anything harmful leaked into the water supply by terrorists, they didn’t have enough time to study long term effects. Yes, it didn’t affect at the time, but once the treatment went into the body it could lay dormant until it is transferred to their child. Then, it waits until the body and mind are changing and depending on the circumstances, _BAAM_! IAAN. Kids dead, kids ‘freaks’. The plainest way to put it. The cure isn’t a cure, it’s a procedure that could essentially be used as a pacemaker to regulate the patterns of electricity in the brain. It’s derived from the original Leda Corp research— the program Nico and Clancy were in.

It’s not a cure. As much as I hated to admit it, Clancy Gray was right. There never was a cure. Just a way of controlling us. 

My thoughts were interrupted by Cole, deciding to bring the information about Sawtooth into play. 

“Gray has been building an army of Reds. Kansas HQ? Definitely not a military unit, there are reports that it was Reds. I have a source— a _trusted_ source— that has informed me there’s a camp called Sawtooth that houses Reds. I would like to get evidence of everything about this camp and I can give it to Alice for Amplify. With one condition, it has to be used to back up the actual camp hit.”

“How long have you known about this?” Vida barked from the back of the room.

Liam cocked his head to the side and raised an eyebrow. “Who is this source?”

If Cole had had time to answer, he only would’ve repeated what he had already said, about how the source was _trusted_. Even though no one in their right mind would trust Clancy, if most of his information has worked out until now, why wouldn’t this? Would he spend all this time being accurate just to lead us into a false sense of security? Can he really be bothered to do that?

“How about,” Alice cut in, “We send a few small groups to the water treatment facilities to capture information, and a smaller team to the camp to see what’s going on?” 

Cole glanced at me, before looking at Ruby. “I only need one other person.” 

“I’ll go.” Someone else said the same words as me, and in my head the only reply I could think of was _absolutely not_. Liam stood up, practically daring his brother to refuse him. 

“I’d like to go,” Ruby tried to answer, but I shook my head. 

“ _I’ll_ go.” It was a last-ditch attempt to prove that it was _my_ decision, and not Cole’s to refuse Lee. 

“Two is enough, isn’t that what he said?” Liam looked at the both of us. “What? You think I’ll screw up your precious little mission?”

_No. I think you’ll get yourself killed._

Cole laughed, ignoring the glare I was giving both him and his brother. “Fine, it’s sorted then. How are we doing for gas?”

I pushed my way out of the room to get some air. _Bloody_ _Stewarts_. Christ, they really are hard to handle sometimes. Ruby walked past me, saying nothing. I knew she felt the same. It wasn’t long before Liam followed her, I caught him, making sure he wasn’t about to do anything stupid. 

“Woah there, calm yourself.” Refusing to let go of his arm, I practically dragged him to the side. 

“Where’s Ruby?” He didn’t look me in the eye. 

“That way. But I’m not letting you in there like…” I looked him up and down. “ _That_.”

“Fine. I’ll talk to you first. How long have _you_ known? You must’ve known since the day you met him. You _had_ to have known. _Why—_ ”

“Didn’t I say anything? It wasn’t my secret to tell. Yes, I knew from the beginning. When I met him, I could _feel_ it. The same way I could feel the energy in you or Chubs, the same way I could feel the electricity in Zu. I could feel the fire in him.”

“Were you scared?”

“Of Cole? God, no. I knew he struggled with controlling it. But then again, so did I. He taught me how to handle it, he trained me. He trained me to control the fire.”

“No, not of him. Of touching him, of having that kind of _fire_ inside you.” 

“At first. But I was never scared of him, the only scary thing about him was that I thought he would hurt himself, or the fact that he was scared of his own power. Now you can go find Ruby, but… Lee?”

“Yeah?” His eyes met mine. 

“Don’t be an idiot?”

He let out a soft laugh, “I’ll try not to.”

I was so caught up in the conversation still, running it through my brain as he left, I forgot. I forgot to tell him there was no way I was going to let him go with Cole to the Red camp. I forgot. And I hated myself for it almost instantly.

  
  



	53. Part Three: Chapter Twenty-One

After the chat with Liam, I immediately went to find Cole. Lee was not in the right headspace to be argued with about his decision to go, so I had to go to Cole. The office door hadn’t even shut before Cole raised his arms in surrender.

“I know what you’re going to say, but what was I supposed to do?”

“Say no? _Shit_ , I don’t know. I’m just really worried.” I sat down in one of the chairs and put my head in my hands.

“You know I’ll take good care of him.” Cole tried to comfort me, but that wasn’t what I was worried about.

“I’m not worried about what will happen to him, I’m worried about _you_.”

“I can take care of myself,” his voice went up a few octaves, along with an eyebrow.

“That’s not what I mean. Last time you blew up a car when you thought someone had hurt him. If you can’t keep yourself in check then you are both toast. _Literal_ toast, not as in a figure of speech kind of way, _literal smoking toast_.” 

“You think I’m smoking?” Cole nudged my arm, jokingly. I elbowed him back. “Sorry, that kind of joke will never not be funny.”

I rolled my eyes, however hard I tried, I couldn’t deny that Cole had this habit of making me laugh in the times I _really_ didn’t want to be laughing. “Swear to me,” I clenched one of my hands, using the pain from my nails as a distraction from the pain in my head. “Swear to me you’ll both come back alive.”

“I swear it. I already told you, I’m not going anywhere anytime soon. I promise.”

~

I spent that night at Cole’s. We were up until dawn sorting everything out for the next day, it took a _little_ bit longer than it should have, we got distracted halfway through, but finally we managed to get everything done. I went to grab dinner for the both of us to bring back before we started sorting everything out and ran into Vida, who looked very pleased with herself, followed by a mortified looking Chubs who refused to say anything to me as he dragged himself back to his room. 

Cole sat on the floor, eating and packing a rucksack, while I sat on the bed watching. I tried that thing magicians do in the movies— throwing cards? It’s a lot harder than it looks, and the pack was considerably lighter by the amount I’d accidentally lost by the end of it. We had to spend a solid ten minutes patching up an old cut on my forehead that I’d accidentally reopened in my bad-card-throwing and somehow by three in the morning I had ended up wearing an oversized hoodie of Cole’s over the top of my shorts and tank top. 

“Why are you laughing?” I threw a card at him and missed, the ten of diamonds falling flat just in front of his lap.

“Because you’re hopeless at this, and it’s brilliant. It’s four in the bloody morning and you’re throwing cards for no reason.” He leant backwards, resting his head against the wall for a moment while laughing.

“I’m not hopeless, like you could do any better!” I chucked the rest of the pack at his head, trying not to laugh. He caught it effortlessly, removing a card and preparing to throw it. The two of spades sailed through the air in an almost perfect arc before landing in my lap. As I looked down at him from the bed, words couldn’t even describe how unimpressed I was. “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me right now Cole. Have you done this before?”

That set both of us off laughing again as he shook his head. “Bet I can’t actually do it again.”

“Go on then.” He was already taking out another card and tossing me back the pack. We each took out a card, and he nodded, signalling to go. My card, the six of clubs, flicked backwards and slid down behind the back of his bed. I cursed, trying to feel around for it and getting nothing. “Damn, that’s another one gone.” Meanwhile, Cole’s jack of hearts circled around me and I caught it in mid-air. “I feel like you’re cheating here.”

“Says the part-time telekinetic.”

I rolled my eyes as he tried to shut his rucksack. The zip got halfway around and refused to go any further. Cole looked up at me with a pleading look and I sighed as I slid off the bed to sit on top of the bag. With my help, he managed to pull the zip all the way around. With the added height of sitting on his rucksack, opposite him sitting sideways on the floor, we were just about at eye-level. 

“Oh, would you look at that,” he whispered, grinning from ear to ear and leaning towards me. “We’re finally the same height.”

“I hate you so much right now,” I whispered back, leaning in closer.

“That very much contradicts what you said the other day…” Our faces were almost touching.

“Shut up and kiss me, Stewart.”

~

Even though we only ended up with less than two hours of sleep, which in hindsight probably wasn’t that practical for the mission, we still weren’t late to the tunnel. Liam and Ruby were already there, early, and apparently not without having stopped for snacks on the way. I had woken up to the sound of Cole swearing. As we had both fallen asleep on the floor by his bag, when Cole woke up he hit his head on the dresser, giving himself a fresh cut on his left cheek. 

“Already killing it this morning,” he gave a small laugh and pulled me up from the floor. “That kind of move was straight out of Lee’s playbook.” 

I shook my head, laughing. “Honestly.” I reached up, wrapping my arms around his neck for a final goodbye kiss. “See you tonight.” Ruby said goodbye to Liam, and with heavy hearts we watched our Stewart boys walk towards the tunnel. 

“Take care of things,” Cole gave us a mock salute.

Ruby sighed back, “Take care of _him_.” 

Liam went through the door, and just before Cole followed him and shut the door behind them, he flicked a card in my direction. I caught it, and looked at the half-bent, slightly burnt around the edges, jack of hearts. Smiling to myself, I watched him leave and let Ruby lock the door behind them. 

Once Ruby had disappeared to finish something off, I made my way back to my room to get changed. A few seconds earlier and I would’ve ran into Nico on my way out. In a very un-Nico like style, he pulled me back into the room and shut the door behind us. He was shaking, and something clearly wasn’t right.

“Nico, what’s up?” He was _supposed_ to be watching the photos as they got uploaded from Cole and Liam at Sawtooth. 

“I think something’s going on with Ruby. I noticed something wasn’t right. I continued to notice. I should’ve said something. Last night, I saw her. She was sleepwalking. I don’t know… something’s not right.” He ran his shoe along the floor, making an odd little squeaking sound with the sole.

“So you want me to ask—”

“NO!” The increase in volume surprised the both of us. “No. I don’t think it’s her.”

I tilted my head to the side, confused. “So it’s her, but it isn’t her?”

“Yes. No. I don’t know… I have a theory, but I really hope it’s not true.” He started pacing the small room, walking back and forth until it started to give me a headache and I had to physically put an arm out to stop him from continuing.

“Well, what is it?”

He wrung his hands and looked around the room before answering. 

“I think it’s Clancy. I think he’s done something.”


	54. Part Three: Chapter Twenty-Two

“Hold on, I’m not following.” I held him by the shoulders, momentarily forcing him to stand still. “You think _Clancy_ is doing something? Clancy Gray locked up in a cell Clancy?”

“Yes.”

“And how will we know for sure?” 

“We pretend we already know.”

~

That was how, at midday, I found myself storming across the Ranch towards Clancy’s room. Of course, being in the current situation, I had to ditch a packet of tissues covered in blood on the way. The cough was back, and it was worse. But right now, I only had one priority. I didn’t even want to think about what would happen if Nico was right. If he had done something to _Ruby_ … God, he’d have had access to everyone and everything that happened at the Ranch. 

I burst in, not caring how the door slammed behind me, shocking Clancy upright. He had been reading another book, and the stack by his cot had only been growing in the past few weeks. 

“What the hell are you playing at?” I really hoped Nico’s plan would work. He stood by the door, hesitant. 

“I see this isn’t a friendly call. Nicolas, go.” Clancy waved his hand and Nico’s eyes went blank as he left the room and shut the door behind him. Just like that, we were alone. “Don’t worry, he’s going back to monitor the suicide mission you sent your little friends on.”

I closed the distance between us in a heartbeat, my fist raised and aimed at his head. “Say that again, I fucking _dare_ you.”

“I said,” he paused for effect, “He’s going to monitor the suicide mission you sent your little friends on. You know the one, right? Sawtooth?” 

My hand opened flat and the crack as I slapped his face almost made me wince. The red hand-shaped mark was already appearing, and Clancy paused to wipe his hair out of his face slightly. 

Even though my voice was shaking, I had to make it sound realistic. “I know you did something to Ruby. Tell me what it is and maybe I’ll let you live.” 

“If you hadn’t figured most of it out, you wouldn’t be here.” Nico’s suspicions were confirmed, at least partly. Unfortunately, he gave nothing away, so I was forced to change tactics.

“Tell me what you did,” I said through gritted teeth, “And I won’t just let you live, I’ll make sure your mother never gives you the cure procedure.”

I saw the change in his face, I saw how his resolve flickered for a split second. 

“It’s too late. It’s all rigged. I suppose you want to know everything?”

I surprised myself, “No. Just Sawtooth.”

“Ah, it amazes me how much you people care for each other. I won’t tell you anything other than this— they’re going to need to expect some company. I doubt you’ll get the message to them in time, I heard the signal down here is _awful_. Wouldn’t know myself, what with being cooped up in here—”

Not caring in the slightest about anything else he had to say, I left him mid-sentence. The clock was ticking, not just for me but for Cole and Liam as well. I ran to where I knew Nico would be. 

“Nico I need a burner phone, a notepad and a pen. Where’s Alice? I need her too.”

Without missing a beat, he chucked me one of the spare phones and pointed towards a stray piece of paper. I shoved it in my pocket and went to find Alice. She had just finished talking to Ruby and was walking down the corridor in a huff. I grabbed her and pulled her into the nearest room. 

“I need your help. It’s urgent, I can’t explain it but if you don’t hear from me in the next 24 hours I need you to show it to everyone here.” 

“What’s—” 

“I said I can’t explain it.” I was already setting up the area. “It will take less than five minutes, it’s an emergency.”

She gave up her camera and sighed.

“Do I even want to know?”

~

Less than twenty minutes later I was racing through the building again until I got to the garage, where I found Chubs, Vida, Ruby and Zu. Ruby was in a rush but I couldn’t let her leave. 

“Guys.” I took a deep breath. “I need to go do something, it’s important. I’m saying goodbyes now so we don’t all get emotional, okay?”

Ruby was first, I gave her a hug. Then I picked up Zu and held her tightly. I really didn’t want to be doing this. I wanted to explain. _But there just wasn’t enough time_. Vida resisted when I wrapped my arms around her but in the end she gave in and let me hug her. “Jeez, boo. Anyone would think you’re not coming back or something!” 

The realisation finally hit home that I probably wouldn’t be coming back. I knew where I was going, I knew the danger. _I knew what was on the line_. By the time I turned to Chubs, he was crying too and practically refused to let me go. 

“Is it soon?”

“If I don’t do this, I’ll die trying.”

“Knowing you, that’s a serious possibility.”

I let him go and he took a step back, letting Ruby, Zu and Vida look on in confusion. _Family comes back. Not this time._

The last person to say goodbye to was Nico. I had to check to see how far away Liam and Cole were from Sawtooth, and I gave him a hug before going— without skin contact, I needed Chubs’ telekinesis for this.

“Wha—”

“Take care of yourself. For Jude.” 

And then I was on Liam’s bike, leaving straight away and thanking Christ that he and Cole had gone in a car. There was no point in trying to contact them, the best shot I had relied on me getting there in time. I had less than two hours to get to them. Or, as I had so beautifully put it before, _literal smoking toast_.

God help anyone who crosses my path on the way there.

  
  



	55. Chapter Twenty-Three

I had to get there. I had to get to them. _I can’t lose anyone else._ I’d barely been driving ten minutes before the speed limit was broken and I sped down the roads at breakneck speed. Son of a bitch. Clancy Gray that goddamn son of a bitch. I hope he gets that cure procedure. In fact, I hope it kills him. 

Should I have told someone where I was going? Probably. Should I have gone into further detail about what was happening? Definitely. But that would have given me less time— given _Cole and Liam_ less time. I should have said a better goodbye, in person. Facing the facts, this is just like any old Op at the League. When someone walks out that door, you have no idea if they’re coming back or not. 

But that wasn’t what I was focused on. I was thinking about the Reds. I was thinking about Project Jamboree. I was thinking about Cole and Liam. 

I should’ve gone with them. There’s actually a long list of things I should’ve done, yet whilst speeding down an unknown highway with only one destination in mind— a potential _final_ destination— the only thing on my mind was the Stewart brothers, and how I had to save them.

The Sawtooth facility was hard to miss, the gate was high and it surrounded the whole area, it’s incessant electric buzzing annoyed the hell out of me as I figured out a way inside. It was too late to warn them, I had already passed the car they had taken, stashed in an old car park and hidden in plain sight. If they had put just _one_ finger on either one of those boys, or worse. 

Let’s face it. There’s nothing worse than a girl with _nothing left to lose._

I was going to rescue them. Or I was going to die trying. I took the same approach used in the Oasis Op, except I personalised it slightly. By personalisation, I mean that I didn’t give a fuck whether I was seen or not. Let them come, let them even _try_ and stop me. Let’s see where that gets them. 

The PSF guarding the gate seemed surprised to see me, or at least the look on his face _could’ve_ been surprise, I didn’t see it long before I knocked him out and took his earpiece. There was a hell of a lot more chatter on the line than usual, and it lead me straight where I needed to go. With a gun in my right hand and my left fist clenched, I walked straight into Sawtooth with a grim smile on my face.

~

It wasn’t difficult to find the interrogation style room, I just listen to the comms before holding it steady and seeing if I could hear the people talking on the other end. I had to avoid a fallen, bullet-splattered piece of panelling that had come right off the wall like it had been ripped off and used as a shield. Liam’s work, presumably. 

The door was shut, and I flattened myself against the wall outside to hear what was happening. From what I could gather, there were at least four PSFs in there with one prisoner. Risking it, I took a quick look through the window into the room. Liam was gone, _hopefully_ escaped. Cole was inside. Right now, he was the priority. When I looked in, it was almost hard to see his face, to see if it was him. But there he was.

Cole’s head was slumped down in the chair, his blonde hair a murky brown, matted with dirt and blood. More blood trickled from a wound on the back of his head, this morning’s cut on the side of his face, his split lip and potentially broken nose. His right eye was swollen and bruised, and it looked like he was barely clinging to consciousness— the only indicator that he was still alive. The room he was in was dark, and the light source seemed to be coming from the floor rather than above. A sign hung from his neck, painted in red letters. “TRY AGAIN.” 

I struggled to hold in my gasp, to control my emotions and stop myself from using Chubs’ telekinesis to throttle every PSF in there at that very second. The sign, the torture— it had to be for theatrics, that was the only explanation. They must have gotten a hold of the phone used to take photos, sending this horrific image back to the others. _Oh god_ , I thought. _How will the other’s know if it’s him or Liam? Ruby… Zu…_ My hand shook but I only clenched it harder. The torture wouldn’t have just been for theatrics. The PSFs didn’t need a reason to kill anyone, they enjoyed it. All in a day’s work. That’s what they became, working with us everyday— _the freaks_. 

I wanted to barge in there. But I had to wait. _Wait._ Bullshit. I’ve been waiting my entire life for a moment to prove myself. I had to prove myself at the League, I fought for a place there before it fell to pieces. I fought to escape Leda Corp. _I AM a fighter._ Which is why I will _not_ give up. 

Another cough racked my chest, and I struggled to stay pressed against the wall out of sight. Blood smeared my white sleeve as I wiped my mouth. God, why did I pick today of all days to wear _white_? My jacket— actually, Cole’s jacket, I accidentally took it that time I was leaving his room in the early morning when he had concussion— had a tear in it, and there was sweat matted in my hair. _I am a fighter. And I’m not giving up._

The first PSF— the closest one to Cole, was a tall female with dark glasses and a sleek high ponytail. She flicked a lighter out of her pocket, playing with the cap. “Do you know what we do to trespassers, although it _would_ be much more fun to let the monsters tear him apart instead… but at least this way we can send it back to his little _friends_.” 

She turned on her heel and gave a chilling smile, “Lets light ‘em up, boys.”

Now was my chance. I tore the door off its hinges, catching them all by surprise. 

“Like _hell_ you are.” 

“Who the fuck are you?” The woman yelled, raising her gun.

“You won’t know me, I’m just a _ghost_ ,” I smirked.

Cole was already flying across the room towards me, the sheer force I used tearing him from his bindings. I had just enough strength to stop his limp body from crashing into mine and toppling us both over. He pushed me back slightly, but from the moment we touched I felt it. 

His fire became my fire.

_And together, we set the world alight._

The room instantly started to fill with heat, my senses transporting me back to that memory, that day at Leda Corp. This time, I had the memory of what happened to make myself stronger. Every mistake makes you stronger, isn’t that what they say? Well I have to admit, almost accidentally killing myself during that escape was one _hell_ of a learning experience. 

The blaze shattered the windows and fire alarms rang out throughout the entire compound as we ran. Well, I ran, carrying Cole and using my body to shield him from bullets as we went. The raging flames grew in power behind us as we continued to make our way towards the gates. I heard them boot up the White Noise machine and before it started, I was already one step ahead. The speakers exploded, the flames catching them and working their way up, showing guards with shrapnel. 

A section of the electric fence was already missing, and it took me a second to realise that it had been thrown from the ground— telekinetically. Lee had escaped, after all. I said a silent thanks as I pulled Cole through the gap. 

~

We were less than five minutes out of reach before Cole began to groan and stir. I had broken the window of the car he had been in, hotwired it and we were just out of the way when I pulled over to check on him. Dragging him out of the car and propping him up against the side of a shadowed building. As soon as Cole could fully form words, I began to realise what danger we were in and the euphoria from the rescue quickly shifted to dismay as I realised the blood on his back was from a gunshot wound that had clipped the back of his neck. 

The bullet has hit him, and there was a clear exit wound where it had gone in at an angle and come out his shoulder. _God, I wish Chubs was here. He would know exactly what to do._

I pulled the burner phone out of my pocket before rethinking my decision. It wouldn’t work, I’d have to do this myself. Cole groaned again as I steadied him, trying to stem the flow of blood. His eyes flickered open, and he pointed to my chest. A red stain covered almost half my top. “My blood? Or yours?” 

‘PSF,” I lied, not even checking. 

My hands shook as I tore off the remains off his shirt in an attempt to use it to bind his wound or at least put pressure on it or— or— _something_ ! No. No. _I can’t lose Cole._ I gave up and tried pressing my warm hands on it to stem the flow. 

Cole, who gave me his jacket when I got cold.

Cole, who kissed me in the rain in the ring of fire.

Cole, who trained me.

Cole, who taught me about using my abilities in a positive way.

Cole, who showed me that there is fight in every single one of us.

_Cole._

Tears poured down my face, unable to stop them I tried blinking enough so that I could still see. I held the cloth against him, using my other hand to wipe the blood from his face. “Shit. Shit. Shit. _No!_ You can’t die. _You can’t die._ ”

His breaths became more ragged and I struggled with not having a complete breakdown. I had to stay strong. _For Cole._ “Please don’t go. Don’t leave me.” I lowered him to the floor. “Lee needs you. The League needs you. _I need you._ Stay with me. _Please…_ ” the last word came out as a whisper and he put his hand over mine. 

“Hey. Look at me. How many times do I have to tell you?” Cole squeezed my hand, sighing. “I’m not going anywhere darlin’. Not now? Not ever. I love you.” 

I wiped the tears from my face, coughing. As I dragged my arm across my mouth, another red stain was added to my shirt. “I— I love you too.” I squeezed his hand back and turned around to wipe my eyes, to calm myself, ready to turn back and put on a brave face and tell him it would be okay.

_But he was already gone._

The tears refused to stop. I sobbed uncontrollably, my entire body shaking. Cole was still warm when I put my arms around him. His body was still warm. _Comes with the territory_ , he used to say. Being a Red made his body temperature constantly above normal, and I never noticed it more than I did in that moment, closing his eyes. 

The pain in my head returned. Only, it never really left, it just never seemed to hurt as much when he was around. It hurt to breathe. It hurt to speak. It hurt to even fucking _think_. Yet, I took a deep breath. And I picked up the burner phone.

Chubs answered immediately. 

“Aria? Aria are you there? Tell me your location, I’ll come get you. Aria?”

“I’m here.” I whispered into the phone.

“Is Liam…” 

“He just called us. We saw the footage, is Cole…”

“I couldn’t save him, Chubs.” My sobs echoed down the phone. “I was with him. He just— he just— _he just slipped away_.” 

“I’m coming to get you, Aria. Where are you?”

“I don’t know, Chubs I don’t know. Chubs, I _couldn’t save him_.”

“I know, I know. Tell me where you are.”

“He’s gone. He’s really gone.”

“Aria.” He paused. “Where are you?”

“I don’t know. About a few minutes drive away from Sawtooth. I’m by an old diner. Chub’s he’s _gone_.” 

“I’m coming. Stay there, I’m coming.” 

“I left you guys something. Ask Alice to show you.”

“Quit talking like that, for god’s sake just stay where you are.”

“Chubs, I’m sorry.”

I hung up the phone and tossed it into the nearest trash can. It bounced off the rim and landed on the floor, cracked. Looking down at my hand, I closed my fist and it burst into flames. _I’m sorry._ Pulling myself upright, I took a few hesitant steps out from behind the building. Sticking my arm out, the car exploded. Then the next nearest object, and the broken down corner shop nearby. Soon everything was a mess of orange and _red_.

I stumbled back to where I’d left Cole, lowering myself back down next to him. _I’m sorry I let you down,_ I thought. I would’ve said the words out loud, but I was alone, with no one left to hear them. Since I was finally alone, I pulled the bottom of my shirt up to see what Cole had been talking about. Not PSF blood, not his blood, mine. The bullet had torn a relatively clear path inwards, before getting lodged somewhere between my ribs. After all that fuss, and I’m going to die from a gunshot wound. I really didn’t see that one coming. 

For once, the pain wasn’t in my head. I held the wound, leaning against Cole’s limp body. It seemed to have stopped bleeding, and his bloodstains on the concrete beneath us were soon covered in mine. My hands were still burning hot from the flames, and I rested one on the wound, barely feeling the pain anymore. 

The other hand I used to hold Cole’s tightly. This time, I spoke out loud. “ _I’m sorry I wasn’t quick enough_.”

And I let the darkness take me.

  
  



	56. Epilogue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Y'all might need some tissues for this. Just a warning.

Chubs held Zu’s hand when they walked, with his other arm around Vida. Ruby and Liam squeezed each other tight when they got out of the car. Once a year they visited this place, and once a year they made a point of standing there, where she stood, and remembering their friend. 

Three years ago, when Chubs and Vida got out the car and saw the blaze, Vida slowly put her hand up to her mouth, squeezing Chubs as hard as she could. The first thing he saw was the burner phone, cracked and charred, and the bloodstained wall. Aria was no longer there, but he knew that was where she spent her last moments. 

He dropped to his knees, tears silently running down his face, remembering the last words he heard her speak. The apology that would haunt him forever. Vida leant over past him, noticing something on the ground. She picked it up, unfolding the corner to get a better look. A small card, burnt and crumpled, the jack of hearts. She slipped it in her coat pocket and motioned for Chubs to call the others. He couldn’t, so she did instead.

Three years later and the whole family was there. Chubs, Zu, Nico, Ruby, Vida, Liam. They sat down in a circle, in the still closed off part of town, and opened Chubs’ shiny new laptop. 

They pressed play.

 _“Hey guys.”_ Aria’s voice called out to them from the tinny little speaker. She took a deep breath before continuing. _“Right, if you are watching this, I’m dead._

_“It’s been a long time coming, actually. Right now, I’m going to tell you the whole story. When I’ve finished, I’m going to log off and I’m going to find Liam and Cole. I didn’t really want to do something like this, because I didn’t know how much time they’d have, but a voice in the back of my head told me I’d regret it if I didn’t. To be honest, it kind of sounded like you, Chubs._

_"I have always been one to put my family first, and that’s you guys. I can’t protect you if I’m god-knows-where getting a potential treatment that might not even work. You guys were my priority, and I stood by that. Because I love you guys.”_

They sat there, hand in hand, watching her. Because she was their friend, and she deserved to be remembered. 

_Because she was a fighter._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to everyone who read this far! There's a sequel on the way... it's gonna take a while because writer's block is a bitch, but I'm pretty sure y'all already knew that. Aria is my favourite OC and just... fuck, rereading the final chapters make me all tearful and shit. 
> 
> Fun fact about me, I wrote these final two chapters on holiday at 2am in an italian hotel room while bawling my eyes out, but I guess that's just life for ya.


End file.
